The Wizard Next Door
by fringeperson
Summary: The foreign man who had bought the house next door to the Minamino's was pleasant and normal enough... apart from his home remedies which worked like magic... don't own, contains some yaoi
1. Chapter 1

Kurama had been vaguely aware that the house next to the one he lived in with his mother had been sporting a 'for sale' sign out the front for a while, and he'd noticed when that 'for sale' sign suddenly had a great big 'sold' sticker plastered across it. He knew that his mother had wished the old neighbours well when the removers came to take all the furniture away, but somehow he'd completely missed the new neighbour moving _in_. His mother hadn't, Shiori was _very_ aware of such things. She'd been right over at the door with a pot of noodles, but Kurama supposed that he'd missed the new neighbour's arrival because he'd been... _preoccupied_ at the time (meeting Hiei, dealing with a human-eating scum-bag of a lower-class apparition, and saving the life of one of the girls from school from said scum) or he'd have been a dutiful neighbour right along with his mother, actually holding the pot of noodles for her while she rang the door-bell and introduced them.

It had shocked him to hear that the man had been able to completely settle himself in a new house in only one day. His surprise was compounded by Shiori's news that their new neighbour had come from the United Kingdom – England specifically, though apparently he'd been educated in Scotland – and was literally _just_ out of school, having moved to Japan as soon as he'd graduated. His parents had died in a car crash when he was little, his godfather more recently by an insane cousin... and he spoke excellent Japanese – though with a slight accent and occasionally getting the order and particles of his words mixed up. A common issue between languages, especially when coming from English which had so few such nuances.

"And such an _observant_ and _kind_ young man too," Shiori continued as they ate their evening meal together. "Why, he noticed the scars on my arms straight away, and even offered me a salve that he said would make them positively vanish!"

Kurama's head jerked up. He still felt guilty about those scars. He had been a horribly stressful child for his mother, he knew, especially since his father died, and she'd still thrown herself between his small, falling body and the broken crockery on the floor. He hadn't understood about human emotion very well back then. Still didn't, in all honesty, but since then he'd been _trying_. Which was why he was still living in the human realm, three years after he could have returned to Demon World, and still masquerading as a human on top of that.

"Did you accept?" Kurama asked. He'd tried his own plant-based salves to help with the healing, but he just didn't have access to some of the plants he really _wanted_, so it hadn't worked that well.

Shiori smiled gently. "I know how much they bother you," she said. "So I did. Potter-san said that I can just rub it in before I go to bed every night until they're gone, or I could lather it on thickly and cover it with cling-film, and they _should_ be gone by morning when I wash the salve off. He also said to come back if I use up the small pot he gave me and could still see the scars, and he'd give me some more."

"That _is_ very considerate of him," Kurama agreed.

Shiori hummed and nodded her head. "I just worry about _why_ such a sweet young man would _have_ a salve that makes scars disappear," she commented, then shook the thought from her head and returned to the meal.

It was an astute observation though, and now Kurama couldn't help thinking about it as well. The obvious answer would be that Potter-san would have scars that he uses that salve for himself, which then begged the question of where he _got_ his scars. An accident like his mothers? It was possible, young men often over-estimated their ability to do things, or he might have had them from the accident that killed his parents. Perhaps he got into fights? Again, it was possible, though it went against Shiori's picture of their new neighbour as a 'nice young man'. Maybe the scars had been inflicted by that same deranged relative who had killed his godfather. It was as likely as anything else.

Kurama now shook his head, dismissing his curiosity. Scars were always personal, and he doubted that their new neighbour would appreciate being interrogated as to the cause of his own. If he had them. Perhaps he had the salve because he intended to set up his own home-remedy business? No, Kurama would not ask. Not without cause beyond curiosity, anyway.

"Did Potter-san say what he would be doing, now that he's in Japan?" Kurama asked.

"Hmm?" Shiori hummed as she looked up from her food. "Oh, do? Now that I think of it, no, he didn't. My, that _is_ curious. However could I have forgotten to ask that?" the woman wondered to herself. "Oh well. I shall ask tomorrow."

Kurama blinked. "You're going to visit him again so soon?" he asked, surprised.

Shiori smiled. "Oh yes!" she enthused. "Would you like to come as well? Potter-san doesn't really know where all the shops are yet, so I offered to show him around the area. You don't have school tomorrow, and I _was_ hoping to introduce you to each other. You can direct him to the places that young people like much better than I could, I'm sure Shuichi."

Kurama nodded obediently. "Of course, Mother," he agreed. "I'll have to think of some way to thank him for the salve he gave you."

Shiori smiled. "Even if it doesn't work?" she asked gently.

"Even then," he agreed. "I must thank him for making such an offer of assistance." Then he smiled a particular, amused smile. "Of course, if it works, then I'll have to think of something better than I would if it didn't."

Shiori laughed, amused by her son's particular humour.

~oOo~

"Minamino-san, hello again," greeted the young man who now lived in the house next to Shiori and her son. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm very well, thank you Potter-san," Shiori answered. "Your salve did just as you said it would. I am _most_ impressed," she added, holding up her now scar-free arms, having gone for the faster healing method at her son's insistence.

The young man smiled. "I'm glad," he said, and his words were sincere, rather than mere tokens and formalities. "Please, come in. Ah, this must be Minamino-kun, who I heard so much about yesterday?" he asked as he ushered them in through his front door.

"Yes," Shiori agreed. "This is my son, Shuichi."

"It is an honour to meet the person who was able to take away my mother's scars," Kurama said formally, bowing to the older teen in the entry-way. "Thank you very much. I don't know _how_ to repay such a debt."

Potter blinked in surprise. "Uh... You can _not bow_ for a start?" he suggested desperately. "I get that it's a different culture, but that's _deference_ rather than _manners_ and I don't deal well with –"

Shiori laughed from slightly further down the hall, putting a stop to both her son's bowing and their host's rambling quite effectively with the pretty sound.

Potter relaxed slightly as he watched her laugh, and gave an apologetic smile to Kurama. "I don't think I really need to be _thanked_ for what I did, but!" he added quickly, seeing that the red-head was about to object. "If you _really_ want do do something, you can help me in out the garden now and then."

"Out in," Shiori corrected with a smile. "Help _out in_ the garden. Not _in out_, Potter-san."

"Thank you, Minamino-san," he said gratefully before turning to Kurama.

Kurama who was bright-eyed and smiling widely. "I would be glad to!" he declared firmly. "I'm very good with plants!"

"Now, we _must_ take you shopping, Potter-san!" Shiori declared with a happy, but slightly devious, smile. After all, what woman doesn't like to take hapless and handsome young men out shopping now and then?

They spent several hours wandering the market district, the mall, and giving Potter a tour of the more specialist (_and_ _locally owned_) shops. He almost always bought something too. Carrots from _here_, an oven to be delivered the next day from _there_ (since apparently the previous owners had _ruined_ the one that was already in the house before they left), cleaning products, a bag of untreated _kelp_ that would apparently be used to help improve the quality of the soil in his garden... and so on.

Shiori left them at about four in the afternoon. She _claimed_ it was to make dinner for the three of them, but both of the males noticed that it was _very_ early for beginning such preparations _and_ that she headed almost straight to a shop that sold women's unmentionables.

"No comment," Potter said judiciously when he noticed the younger teen shudder minutely before looking away.

"Thank you," Kurama answered, turning quickly away from the sight. He didn't want to think about his mother that way. Not at all. Yes, he knew that she was beautiful for a human female of her age, but he _did not want to think about her that way_.

"Tea?" Potter suggested.

"That sounds wonderful," Kurama agreed quickly. "There's a nice place this way," he added, aware that Potter wouldn't _know_ such a thing. Thankfully, the place he was thinking of was _away_ from the shop his mother had entered.

Once the two of them were settled down into the cushy leather-upholstered seats of the café Kurama had brought them to, steaming cups of tea before them – rose-hip tea for Kurama, Earl Grey with milk and one for Potter – Kurama broached the topic that Potter had rather skilfully been dodging all day. Shiori hadn't questioned directly, and Potter was _very_ skilled at evasive answering.

"If I may ask, what sort of work will you be looking for while you're here in Japan?" Kurama enquired, as politely as he could for such a blunt question.

Potter smiled. "Ah Minamino-kun," he answered as he relaxed backwards, teacup cradled between his palms. "I will be attending university for a few years first."

Kurama cocked his head to the side slightly, as he had done when he was a fox, in curiosity. "I was led to believe that attending university was an expensive undertaking," he commented.

Potter nodded absently. "Thankfully, I have inherited more than enough wealth to live _and_ pay for my university courses," he returned. He smiled, and his eyes danced as he watched the boy watching him with intensity and curiosity, and was glad that he'd exchanged his glasses for contact lenses. "Then I shall be a fully qualified teacher," he stated.

Kurama blinked, and straightened as he considered the older teen across the small table from him.

"With the wonderful salve you provided my mother, I would have thought you might be going into medicine," Kurama commented.

Potter chuckled and shook his head. "Not at all," he quipped. "Can't stand hospitals. It's why I make my own..." he trailed off, his face scrunching up slightly as he tried to find the right word in the new language.

"Remedies?" Kurama offered.

Potter frowned a moment in further thought before he nodded. "I suppose that will do," he agreed at last, then took another sip of his tea.

"Might... You teach _me_ how to make some of them?" Kurama asked, both hesitant and eager.

Potter raised a curious eyebrow.

"I tried to make a salve to take away my mother's scars already, you see," Kurama hastened to explain. "It... didn't work as well as I'd wanted it to."

"I understand," Potter answered. "But... the process of actually _making_ the remedies I use... I'd be happy to supply you with whatever remedies you want or need, whenever you want or need them," he assured the red-head. "But... the raw ingredients can be gross, the preparations have to be precise, the _timing_ has to be even _more_ precise, and making just about _any_ mistake along the way can cause the whole thing to blow up, literally, or if it doesn't then it'll either be completely useless or it will kill you instead."

Kurama dropped his head, a show of being dejected. He was _sure_ that he'd be able to learn, he was nearly five-hundred years old and _still_ learning new things at the human school he attended. Top of his class, curious mind that grasped concepts quickly, and dedicated. Part of him wondered if Potter would agree if he were a bit older.

He heard Potter sigh.

"I'll compromise," he said.

Kurama jerked his head up, surprised and hopeful.

"I'll teach you how to prepare the ingredients first. The whole dicing, mincing, chopping, shaving, grinding, powdering, slicing – the lot. Once I'm satisfied with that, I'll teach you how to cook. Not my remedies, but regular food, baked goods and the like. This will make sure that you understand about measuring by volume, or weight, or whatever, about timing to proportions, as well as being a useful life-skill in general. We'll start with the simple stuff, and work our way up to more complicated things, until you feel comfortable enough to be able to experiment with cooking and I'm satisfied with your skill. Then, if you're still interested after all that, I'll get you to help me make some remedies, and supervise you making some on your own," Potter decided, nodding when he was done, satisfied with his plan.

Kurama's eyes had been steadily getting wider, and his mouth was hanging open – just a bit – as Potter explained how he would be going about teaching Kurama to eventually make such superior remedies.

"And in exchange..." Potter said, pausing to drain his teacup.

Kurama closed his mouth and swallowed tensely, waiting to hear the price, the catch, the cost of this learning. He had already committed himself to helping this man with his garden as thanks for taking Shiori's scars away. He wasn't sure what else he could offer, or what might be asked of him.

"I want you to _never_ lie to me," Potter finished, his voice firm as he locked his gaze with Kurama's.

Kurama's mouth fell open again in shock.

"I'm not going to ask you to tell me all your secrets, but I've had issues with people lying to me before, and keeping things from me that I _needed_ to know. I want to have a person in my life who I can trust to be honest with me, and I'll be honest with you in turn. How does that sound?" Potter offered.

Kurama nodded slowly, thinking it over quickly. He didn't have to tell Potter that he was actually a fox, just... not tell him lies, like the ones he told his mother – the kind that actually wouldn't be _needed_ with a next-door neighbour. He could agree to this.

~oOo~

It took a full _year_ for Kurama to satisfy Potter's standards for ingredient preparation, and some of the ingredients were, well, _odd_ would be putting it _very_ nicely. The plants varied from normal to something he might have expected to find in Demon World, and then there were things like juicing slugs, filleting different types of aquatic and amphibious fauna, and grinding bones – _bones!_ Like in that fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk, he was _grinding bones_. He powdered dried plants, vicious looking claws and teeth, and drained the blood of a live mouse into a vial for one of Potter's mixtures – and had to keep the mouse alive throughout and make sure it was _still_ alive when he was done. Not easy. He even learned how to safely milk venom from snakes and spiders under Potter's watchful instruction.

So, he was fourteen before Potter let him into the kitchen, having previously held their lessons in what qualified more for the title of 'laboratory', with all the jars of ingredients lining the shelves, the heavy work-bench, ventilation shaft, and the tank that had held the snake, spider or mouse he was siphoning venom or blood from if that was the lesson. They never hung around for more than a week before Potter sent them back to wherever they'd come from.

The lessons progressed from soups to fish to poultry to red meats to baked goods to delicate confectionery – and all that went much faster than learning to prepare ingredients to Potter's satisfaction, likely helped by cooking lessons being part of Kurama's middle school curriculum. His teachers at school were all _very_ impressed with his skill, and he was getting consistently top marks in _that_ class, just as he had in all his other subjects.

Also in this time, Potter became a sort of babysitter for Kurama, much as the title did _not_ sit well with the ancient fox. His mother had started dating her boss, so while they were out on dates Kurama would stay with Potter, helping in the garden or working towards proving himself worthy to learn how to make the remedies that Potter created.

"Come in Minamino-kun," Potter greeted.

Kurama bowed his head in gratitude and toed his shoes off. Slipping into the house shoes that Potter kept for him, the red-head then started towards the kitchen, ready for his next cooking lesson to begin.

"No," Potter called softly. "In here please," he instructed, gesturing towards the lounge room, where a chess set was waiting for them. "You're ready to start learning how to make the remedies I think, but before that, I believe I should explain something to you. Please," he said, gesturing for Kurama to take a seat behind the 'white' side of the marble chessboard. The white pieces all had little black veins running through them, just as the black pieces all had thin white veins. "Nothing is all black or all white," Potter explained when he noticed Kurama studying the chess set. "You have first move."

Kurama picked up the queen-side knight and set it down in front of the bishop's pawn with a soft click.

Potter did nothing, but rather the king's pawn marched _itself_ forward two squares.

Kurama's eyes nearly popped out of his head they went so wide.

Potter chuckled. "I'm terrible at chess," he said. "This set is... a reminder of someone I once thought was a friend. I've been getting better though, I think."

"You have!" agreed all of the pieces.

"You're just not _good_ yet," added the black queen.

Potter chuckled again at the frank words of the chess set. "This, Minamino-kun, is a _wizards chess set_. Enchanted to move on their own, give advice, object to the moves your making if your making a bad move, destroy opposing pieces and then repair magically when the checkmate is called. I am a wizard," he explained. "That is my big secret. The remedies I make work like magic because they _are_. I thought it might be prudent to explain this before I helped you make your first _potion_."

Kurama nodded slowly. "I see," he said, and absently moved one of his pawns forward a step. "I am a four-hundred year old demon fox. My name was Yoko Kurama. Shiori... doesn't know."

Potter nodded his silent acceptance of this, but otherwise didn't react, and another pawn stepped out from its place. "You don't want her to either, do you?"

"No," Kurama agreed, as he made a move. "I _was_ just going to leave four years ago, but..."

Potter chuckled darkly as another of the black pieces moved itself. "Having people who care for you has a way of getting under your skin, doesn't it?" he asked. It was rhetorical, but Kurama answered anyway.

"Yes. It was because of me that she had those scars on her arms, and even after I'd been treating her like she was a lesser creature," Kurama admitted softly, clicking another piece down on another square.

"And what will you do when she begins to die?" Potter asked. "Humans _do_ that you know. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, sometimes far too soon for the happiness of those around them." Another piece moved.

"I..." Kurama nearly choked as he looked up from the game to consider Potter with large eyes. "I'd do my best to save her, even if it meant doing something terrible," Kurama declared, resolve as strong as steel in his voice.

"Hmm," was Potter's answer. "And if _she_ is alright with dying?" he asked. "What then?"

"I don't know," Kurama answered quietly, finally making his move. "Probably save her anyway. I'm a selfish creature by nature really... but I feel guilty, like one of those animals that eats its mother when it's born."

"We all do sometimes," Potter told him. "That's just the nature of being more aware than the common animal. The animals that _do_ eat their parents certainly feel no guilt over it, just as their mothers – and ours – feel no pain as they give of themselves for our benefit."

"Potter-san?" Kurama asked, curious.

"Let me tell you my story, from the terrible beginning," Potter said, as pieces started to move themselves around the board without any input from either of the males, aware that they had forgotten about the game completely. "There was a prophecy..."

It was quite the impressive story actually, full of pain, betrayal, secrets, and Potter constantly hiding his ability to keep from either tipping his hand or offending people. Killing monsters, killing psychotic terrorists, surviving several attempts on his life – _even a few that were actually successful_ – and _then_ having to dodge women trying to marry him for his fame and money after all that... Definitely one heck of a story, and much more impressive than Kurama would have been able to guess on his own. Then, when it was over (despite it feeling like there were things that had been left out), Potter waved for Kurama to follow him down to the potions lab.

It was nice to have it confirmed as a lab, actually.

It wasn't so nice to have to deal with Shiori falling ill not long after Shuichi's fifteenth birthday. Not just a cold or a cough either, but _dying_ type ill. Unfortunately, Harry had no magic potion to cure this illness, as no witch or wizard had ever suffered from cancer, and so they had never seen a need to create a cure for it as the muggles sought to. On top of that, Kurama had to continue attending school while he worried for the woman who had taught him so much.

"Minamino-san," Potter said gently as he sat by the woman's side as she lay in her hospital bed, keeping her company while Kurama was at school. "The doctor says you might not see the end of the month."

"Yes," she agreed weakly. "I know."

"Have you made preparations yet?" he asked softly. The therapies that would be used to deal with cancer in its early stages had been tried, but weren't any help – it seemed that the disease had advanced too quickly and been caught too late.

"Not _exactly_," she admitted sadly. "I made a will when my husband died. I didn't want anything to happen to Shuichi, but... I haven't really looked at it since then, and a lot of things have changed. My lawyer will be coming by tomorrow to review it with me. Potter-san, would... you be Shuichi's guardian, if the worst happens?" she asked, her voice weak but desperate. "It _was_ my sister, but the last I heard of her was from an American lawyer, apologising that a fire had taken her life and the government had taken most everything else to help pay for her funeral on my behalf," Shiori said with a weak smile. "That was nearly four years ago. Please Potter-san? Shuichi already knows you, and you get along so well. I don't want him to be forced to live with strangers."

Potter took one of Shiori's hands between both of his. "I would be honoured," he said firmly and sincerely. "Now you rest," he insisted gently, releasing her hand to fluff her pillow for her. "And remember to do _everything_ the doctors and nurses tell you, even if it means swallowing things you don't think you have the stomach for."

Shiori laughed weakly, but lay back into her pillow with a smile on her face. "Oh, Potter-san, how is your university course going?"

Potter chuckled. "My teaching degree only takes two years to complete when done slowly, and I have been taking extra courses during the summer and winter breaks as well. I graduated at the end of the last semester, Minamino-san."

"You didn't invite us to your graduation ceremony!" she cried, saddened.

"I didn't go myself," he admitted with a smile. "I am not very fond of robes, you see. They sent my certificate in the mail."

"I'm sure you would have looked handsome in your graduating gown," Shiori said quietly as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Potter smiled slightly at the sentiment, and left the woman to sleep. Besides, her boyfriend had just arrived to take over the visitor's chair. He arrived back at the Minamino residence in time to see two blurs disappear over the tree-tops. One black, the other mauve – the colour of Kurama's school uniform – and topped by red.

"Well, he said he'd do _anything_ to save her," Potter muttered to himself, then shook his head before heading in through his own front door. He knew that Kurama would be back by breakfast at the very latest, so he would be able to ask him what he as up to then.


	2. Chapter 2

"The Forlorn Hope?" Potter asked.

"Yes," Kurama said. "It is a mirror that under the light of the full moon shows a person's greatest desire, and can grant it."

"There's always a catch," Potter stated immediately. "I saw a mirror like that when I was a kid. The Mirror of Erised showed your greatest desire, but couldn't grant it, and people wasted away in front of it."

"The cost is life," Kurama admitted. "To have your wish fulfilled, you must give up your life to the mirror."

Potter snorted. "I wonder how it would grant the wish of eternal life and youth then," he quipped, then sighed as he considered the young man sitting across the table from him. "You know that your mother would not be happy if you died and she lived. Yes she's dating again and he's got a son too, but she would still miss _you_."

"I don't..." Kurama started, then bit his lip, cutting off the word 'care' before he could speak it. "She will be alive, that's the important thing," he said firmly.

Potter sighed. "Alright," he allowed. "I won't stop you. Go ahead and steal the mirror with your friend and the fall-guy you found. Just... come to me if something happens, alright? I mean anything."

Kurama nodded. "Thank you, Potter-san."

"I think by now you can call me Harry," the older male said, a corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement. "After all, since I'm not turning you in to the authorities, I'm an accessory to theft now, aren't I?" he added teasingly.

Kurama laughed. "Very well," he agreed with a smile. "Harry. I... wouldn't mind if you called me Kurama," he offered, perhaps just a little bit hopefully. "Apart from around my mother of course."

Harry nodded. "Alright then, Kurama. Now, you have school to attend, and I've made you a packed lunch."

"Ah! Thank you Harry!"

~oOo~

He was sitting with Shiori when Kurama showed up with another boy, this one much closer to Kurama's physical age.

"Shuichi, you've brought a friend to visit?" Shiori asked, a smile on her face as she tried to sit up.

"No moving about!" Harry insisted immediately, an arm across her shoulders to stop her.

"Yes, Mother, please! You mustn't stress yourself!" Kurama added frantically.

"I know," Shiori said, giving a smile as she relaxed as much as she could back into her pillow.

"Have you eaten yet today? Would you like me to peel you an apple?" Kurama asked.

"I'm not very hungry today," Shiori answered.

"But you need to keep up good nutrition," Kurama insisted.

"Oh she doesn't get a choice in that," Harry put in with a slight smile. "I forced one of my remedies down her throat earlier when she told me she wasn't hungry."

"It didn't taste nice," Shiori added, crinkling her nose slightly in remembrance.

"All the most healthy things are," Harry informed her. "Though I _have_ been working on the taste, since I drink a mug full of the stuff every day myself. Keeps me healthy and strong," he added with a wink as he pumped up one arm to show off a muscle to the frail woman in the bed.

"Showing off to my woman, Potter-san?" a voice asked from the door.

All three young men and Shiori looked over to see Shiori's boyfriend and boss standing there, hands in his pockets.

"It's my turn to use that seat, isn't it?" he asked as he entered the room.

Harry nodded and stood. "Sure," he agreed. "We'll just hang out on the roof if you need us for anything. Come on you two," he said, ushering the two fifteen year old boys out of the room.

"Harry, this is Urameshi Yusuke, the Spirit World's Detective. He's come to arrest me," Kurama said, starting the introductions once they were all on the roof and had closed the door behind them so that no one would overhear. "Detective, this is Potter Harry, my neighbour and confidante."

"Confi-what?" Yusuke asked, confused.

"I'm the one Kurama tells his secrets to," Harry explained. "Now, I'm going to wait just over here while you make your case to the detective," he said, jerking his thumb at the fence that circled the roof before walking over to lean against it, keeping an eye on the two teens from there.

Kurama made his case. He explained what he was and how he came to be a son to the dying woman inside, his reasons for wanting the Forlorn Hope, and his willingness to turn himself in and accept whatever punishment allotted to him for having stolen the mirror.

Then one of the nurses called for Shuichi from the door – Shiori had just taken a turn for the worse – and the red-head ran from the roof.

"Alright, so what's _your_ story?" Yusuke asked, turning to Harry while it was just the two of them there. "I noticed you didn't so much as flinch when Kurama said he was a demon."

Harry shrugged. "I knew," he said easily. "Knew about the planned theft the night before they pulled it too," he continued. "You caught the official fall-guy?" he asked.

"Goki. Yeah, I caught him. Just have to get the mirror and the sword back," Yusuke agreed.

Harry raised a curious eyebrow. "And you didn't go looking for the sword _before_ when Kurama had already promised to _give back_ the mirror tonight because...?" he asked.

Yusuke went wide-eyed and jumped back in surprise. "It hadn't occurred to me?" he offered weakly.

Harry shook his head. "Kids," he muttered, more amused than anything. Of course, he couldn't really blame the kid. Older and _supposedly_ wiser men had made similar mistakes before. "How did you get this Spirit Detective gig anyway?" he asked, changing the topic.

"Er, I died," Yusuke answered, not a little awkwardly.

Harry burst out laughing. He just couldn't help himself. "That's really all the criteria they have?" he asked, his wrapped his arms around his stomach and his eyes starting to water. "Die and come back? I did that years ago!" Harry stopped laughing abruptly as he thought about that statement, then grinned. "Several times!" he added, returning to his previous histrionics.

"Harry please," Kurama's voice came from the door to the roof. "My mother is dying."

"Sorry Kurama," Harry said, calming down. "I was just hearing how Urameshi-kun became a detective."

Kurama nodded in acceptance to this, but his expression was solemn as he set the mirror down on the roof.

"I was told there was a price that went with using that," Yusuke said, his voice serious and quiet. "I don't suppose you know what that price is?" he asked.

"Life," Kurama answered before he bent over the small mirror. "Forlorn Hope, I ask you to wake from your sleep and hear my plea. Reflect my greatest desire so that you can make it true," he intoned, one hand hovering over the surface of the mystical glass.

Yusuke brought a hand up to his face so that he wasn't blinded by the sudden light coming from the mirror, and Harry stepped away from the fence, walking slowly up to the two boys as the mirror answered Kurama.

"The happiness of this woman, is that what you desire?" the mirror asked, Shiori shown within, smiling and healthy once more.

"It is," Kurama answered.

"To grant this wish, are you willing to give your life?" the mirror asked.

"If that is what is required, then yes," Kurama answered.

Then Yusuke took action, finally getting exactly what 'life' meant as a price for soemthing. "Hey mirror guy! Take my life instead! That way Kurama can live and still have his wish, right?"

"But... Why? It makes no sense, this is _my wish_," Kurama said, confused as he looked from the mirror to Yusuke, who had knelt down beside him and had _his_ hand stretched out to the mirror as well.

"So what, you'll just die and leave your mother to mourn the loss of her son for the rest of her life? That doesn't make sense either!" Yusuke returned harshly. "I've seen that once before and I _don't_ want to see it again!"

Harry loomed up behind them and stared down at the mirror, his green eyes glinting coldly in the light of the full moon above and the light of the mirror below. The Resurrection Stone glinted in the light as well as it became visible on his hand, which he _also_ held out over the mirror.

"Your desire shall be fulfilled!" the mirror intoned grandly.

Harry felt the power of that mirror ripple through his body as it flashed a great light, felt that power spread out beyond him even though the light contracted and intensified. He even managed to remain standing when both of the boys fell.

"Interesting that they've both still got a pulse," Harry commented at the mirror after he'd checked both of the boys.

"In honour of their noble deed, I granted the wish without taking life," the mirror answered.

"You're just a big softy," Harry said fondly as he picked up the mirror.

"Yes, well," the mirror somehow coughed nervously. "Don't let it get around, would you? Of course, having the _Master of Death_ hovering over them at the same time, as well as the nature of those wishes particularly... it makes a difference."

Harry chuckled softly. "I won't tell a soul," he promised the mirror. "Thank you."

"An honour and a pleasure," the mirror answered.

"I'm still alive, but..." Kurama noted softly, pushing himself onto his hands and knees, his eyes were already wide with worry though. "What about my mother?" he asked.

"Go and see," Harry suggested. "I'll keep an eye on the detective."

Kurama didn't need telling twice, and was through the door faster than any human should be able to move without some kind of aid. He'd barely gone through the door when a girl with blue hair, wearing a pink kimono and riding a flying oar landed on the roof.

"Yusuke?" she asked tentatively.

"He'll live," Harry said from where he stood, still holding the mirror.

She snapped around sharply, noticing Harry for the first time. "Who -? How -? What -?" she stuttered out, her pink eyes brimming with tears that were just waiting to fall.

"Potter," he said, introducing himself with a slight bow. "Harry. Pleased to meet you Miss...?"

"Botan," the girl answered. "Um... I'm going to need that back from you," she said, pointing hesitantly to the Forlorn Hope.

"Hey, it worked, and I'm alive!" Yusuke said, sitting up at last, a smile on his face. "It _did_ work, right?" he asked, turning to Harry.

"Well, Kurama's alive and I'm _fairly_ sure his mother is on the mend," Harry answered with a small nod and a gentle smile. "Now, I believe you needed this back?" he offered, holding out the mirror to them.

"Thanks," Yusuke said, taking back the mirror.  
"I'm going to head down and celebrate with Kurama now. I'll see you around," Harry said, waving farewell as he headed back inside and down the stairs.

~oOo~

"Your friend kidnapped the detective's girl?" Harry asked, surprised at what Kurama was telling him.

"I owe him for his help, what he did the other night with the Forlorn Hope," Kurama said, his words solemn and his posture tense. "I... don't _want_ to fight Hiei. His trust is a fragile thing, and I don't want to betray it by stopping him."

Harry lay a hand on Kurama's shoulder. "Then I'm coming with you," he said firmly. "I'll even do the fighting on this one, and you can claim neutrality the next time to talk to your friend."

Kurama relaxed enough to smile gratefully at Harry.

"Let me grab my emergency kit, and car keys," the black-haired male said with a grin.

"You're amused by this?" Kurama asked in the car between giving directions to Hiei's 'hideout'.

Harry chuckled. "I'm a twenty-year-old teacher rushing off to help save the day," he answered. "I'd kind of planned to swear _off_ saving the day when I skipped out of the UK and landed in Japan. So much for that."  
"Ah, yes, the 'saving people thing' one of your classmates commented on," Kurama noted with a small smile.

"That's the one," Harry agreed.

They reached the warehouse Hiei was using not long after that, and got to hear Hiei gloating about having struck Keiko with the Shadow Sword, and all that that entailed.

"Soon you'll have a girlfriend who's a demon and an assistant who's dead," Hiei declared with a wicked chuckle.

"The antidote is in the hollow handle of the sword," Kurama told Harry quietly as they entered the warehouse, even as Hiei informed Yusuke of much the same thing.

"I'll deal with that, you feed the girl pepper-ups, okay?" Harry suggested.

Kurama nodded in agreement and hurried over to the two girls while Harry headed over to the combatants, getting between them just in time to catch the blade of the Shadow Sword between his hands. It was a nifty trick actually. He didn't try to arrest the momentum of the object, but rather divert it, altering the angle the sword abruptly by applied force to two different parts of the blade. It had a bonus of wrenching the sword from Hiei's grip.

And sending it flying into the crate right near Botan's head, which meant she and Kurama would be able to get the antidote out of the hilt.

"Who are you?" Hiei demanded, his Jagan glowing red.

Harry smiled pleasantly and let his wand fall from his sleeve into his hand. Even if he didn't use it as much any more in his day-to-day life, he always stuck it into his sleeve holster every morning when he got dressed. At times like this, that was quite a useful precaution.

"Petrificus totalus," Harry answered, firing the spell off quickly, the magic moving faster than the demon who was expecting an answer rather than an assault.

Hiei's arms and legs snapped together, much the same way Yusuke had been held a moment ago, but at the same time different. After all, the spell would last until it was lifted by the counter-curse rather than having to be maintained by the concentration of the caster.

"My name is Harry," he said as he crouched down beside Hiei. "And I'm here because Kurama owes the detective his life but he _really_ didn't want to fight _you_ to pay that debt back."

Hiei blinked, twice, in surprise at that quiet revelation.

Harry smiled to see that surprise. "Oh come now, it really is quite obvious that the detective will be put into life-threatening situations again some other time. It's part of his job description. Kurama can pay that debt back later when it _doesn't_ involve possibly destroying forever one of exactly three intra-personal relationships that he actually values."

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "And the other two?" he asked.

"Well, his mother for one," Harry answered. "Obviously. The whole using the Forlorn Hope to save her life kind of gives it away."

"And the other?" Hiei growled dangerously, even as he couldn't move.

"Me," Harry replied with an easy shrug. "The only human he's trusted to know both sides of his life _without_ the prospect of his own death looming over him. Now, once the girl is okay you're going to be taken to Spirit World and tried for various crimes. I suggest you start putting together a good sob-story," he advised with a small smirk. "But you didn't kill anybody, so that's a good thing at least, hmm?"

Hiei just scowled up at him.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry had been visiting the various local schools, going through interviews about being put on their rolls to call if they ever needed a substitute teacher, when he heard a familiar pair of voices coming from the roof of the last school.

"And old human acquaintance of Koenma's is looking for an apprentice to teach her powers to," a female voice said. Botan. "Her name's Genkai, and she's one of the greatest psychics in the world. She has a powerful psychic technique that can, depending on the user, either protect _or destroy_ hundreds of people."

"So you want _me_ to learn the old lady's ability instead of some _other_ guy who might use them incorrectly, is that it?" a young male voice asked, and Harry smiled. Urameshi Yusuke.

"That's right," Botan agreed.

Harry wandered off then, leaving them to their conversation even as he considered having a look-in and finding out more. He didn't need to eavesdrop though. He had _other_ ways to get information – like the phone book for starters.

There was her name and address, he even called to verify the 'rumour' he'd heard and got the date and Genkai's own expectations for whoever passed her tests. Harry hummed to himself as he popped back around all the schools he'd just visited over the past week, removing the memory of himself from the staff and his records from their files. If he didn't pass Genkai's tests, then he'd just have to go through it all again, and it wasn't like he was desperate for work, so he had the time to do that if he needed to.

All that done, Harry went to knock on the door of the Minamino residence.

"Potter-san, what a pleasant surprise," Shiori greeted with a smile.

"Minamino-san, I am glad to see you are recovering so quickly," Harry replied. "May I come in?"

"Certainly," the older woman replied, stepping aside to let the young man into her home. "I hope you are well?"

"Yes, thank you," Harry answered. "But I fear for my garden," he added with a smile.

"Oh?" Shiori countered, amused as she watched Harry take off his shoes and shuffle into the slippers she had bought for him to wear when he came to visit. "But you take such good care of it!"

Harry was still smiling as he straightened and followed Shiori into the lounge room. "Ah, but how can I care for my garden when I am not here?" he pointed out.

Shiori blinked in surprise at that. "You're leaving?" she asked.

"I have heard that a great master is seeking an apprentice, and will be leaving this weekend to apply to them for this position. If they accept me, then I will be gone for at least six months. If not, then I will only be away for a single day," Harry explained, then cocked his head in thought. "Perhaps your son would like to join me? I am sure that his school would accept his absence if he is accepted as an apprentice to a great master, and Shuichi-kun is such an excellent student that he would soon catch up on his work. If the great master accepts him as her apprentice of course."

Shiori hummed in consideration, her curled fingers held up against her mouth as she thought. "If Shuichi would like to go," she decided at last, a small smile on her face. "Then I will gladly support him."

Harry bowed his head.

"And if one of us does not make it, then the other can keep watch over both gardens," Kurama suggested as he walked into the lounge room. "I'm sorry, I could not help over-hearing. I'm home, Mother."

"Welcome home, Shuichi," she answered with a smile. "Would you like to go?"

"Yes, please."

The woman nodded. "Alright then."

And just like that, it was decided. Harry returned to his house to pack what he would need for the coming six months if he were chosen, and Kurama did likewise in his own home. The next morning, before the sun had even come up, the two of them said farewell to Shiori and climbed into Harry's car. It would be a bit of a drive to reach her property, and then a long walk up a lot of stairs to actually reach her front door.

"Looks like a lot of people have come to try for the position," Kurama commented as they reached the top.

"And it's still early," Harry answered. "I thought it might be good to mingle, assess the competition a little," he added as explanation when Kurama looked at him curiously.

They were there for half an hour before the doors opened and the great master stepped out. She... didn't cut an impressive figure, even on the old woman scale like McGonagall had. Still, for someone only three feet tall and in possession of faded pink hair, she was probably as impressive as it was possible for her to be.

"The first test will be the drawing of lots," Genkai announced to them all.

Even Harry and Kurama fell down in shock.

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed softly as he and Kurama stepped up to take theirs from the pot. "Magic paper. It makes sense now."

"Harry?" Kurama asked, confused as he took his slip.

"The papers inside react to how much power we have," Harry explained as he took one himself and turned away from the jar – and Genkai who was suddenly watching him very closely. "Above a certain level it turns red, otherwise it will remain blank. Very clever."

Kurama smiled in understanding, and when Genkai called for all of them to open their lots, the little papers in their hands had indeed turned red, just as Harry said they would. Of course, there were always going to be some people who objected to being rejected, but Genkai dealt with them most impressively.

The room full of arcade games was pretty impressive too, even more so when Genkai explained how the three games they would be playing worked. The punching game to test their spiritual power, the karaoke machine to test their spiritual adaptability, and the janken game to test their spiritual awareness.

"Two out of three?" Kurama said quietly, so only Harry heard him.

"But that potentially leaves something unmeasured," Harry answered with a mischievous smile. "I say karaoke first," he quipped.

Kurama sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Let's get it over with."

The two of them got fairly high scores on all three games, and made it into the top twenty who moved on to the next test – at which point Kurama noticed that Yusuke was present as well, and another teen who seemed to know the detective.

"I overheard about this from them," Harry answered with a smile when Kurama noted this to him.

"Now that the weak have been eliminated, the tests will be far more severe," Genkai announced as she stood before them all in front of a ward line. "This is known as the Dark Forest, and it is as old as the human race. It is the home to the oldest and most primitive of demons. On the other side of the forest is a giant tree. Make it there and you pass the test. You have two hours!"

A few people ran away rather than lined up to run _in_, not that anybody blamed them. The forest was practically _radiating_ 'creepy'.

"I will follow the detective," Kurama said quietly. "I may be able to pay my debt within that forest."

Harry nodded. "I'll see you on the other side," he promised with a smile.

Kurama nodded, and then everybody was running. Including Genkai.

Harry smirked as she took the lead. Of course she knew the fastest and safest way through the forest. He put on some speed and followed her, only just keeping her in sight between the trees – a task made easier by her red tunic, even if it should have been harder because of how small she was.

"You certainly got here fast," Genkai commented when Harry crested the hill where she was waiting about fifteen minutes after she had gotten there herself – which was a little over an hour into the test. The forest was quite big after all.

"I followed you," Harry answered with a smirk.

Genkai seemed almost impressed in her silence.

The loud boy who was talking with Urameshi arrived next, immediately followed by two much more mature-aged men, and the detective not long after with Kurama.

"A straight line!" Kurama growled as he walked over to stand with Harry. "He would have either been killed by or wasted too much time fighting a _man-bat_ called Baldock."

Harry smiled fondly as he shook his head. "You got your debt off your chest though, yes?" he commented.

Kurama nodded, though he was frowning.

Another four managed to reach the finishing point before the time ran out, making it a total of ten to be led to another long flight of stairs, at the top of which awaited a building.

"From here on you can forget about sympathy!" Genkai snapped at them all. "The final test will be a tournament between the ten of you until one is standing. You will fight until your opponent is either dead or incapacitated. I don't care which," she said, and then opened the large doors and ordered them all in.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" asked one of the teens. "I don't like this!"

"Yeah, Grandma, what? Do you expect us to fight in the dark?" Yusuke's voice asked in agreement.

Then a small lamp came on, granting them all a small circle of light. "Yes, you little crap, that's exactly what I expect," she answered, blowing cigarette smoke into his face and the face of his friend along with the statement. "You must use your spirit awareness to see. Use weapons if you've got them, hit 'em where you like, anything goes. The winner is the one who can walk back alive."

"Sounds like a typical Saturday morning street fight, huh Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked his friend quietly.

"I'm not so sure, Urameshi. I got a bad feeling. Like some of that spooky stuff from the forest followed us in here, ya know? Like some beast has been stalking me but he's too afraid to show his face," the other boy, Kuwabara apparently, answered.

"I guess that proves it then," Yusuke said quietly. "Rando must still be after Genkai's technique."

Harry and Kurama shared a glance. It seemed the detective was working a case at the same time as applying for the apprenticeship. Very interesting.

"Now before we start, you all introduce yourselves and _speak up_," Genkai ordered.

"I am Musashi," announced the guy with an eye-patch and a wooden sword. He then bragged of his skill with said sword – and his hobby of killing demons.

"Himugami Kabano," stated a green-haired man, and then _he_ bragged of being a master martial artist.

"Kazumaru of the ninjas," stated the bald guy with what, frankly, looked like a swastika on his head to Harry's eyes, but he supposed it meant something else to this guy. "Bodyguard to government officials and trained in the ninjitsu art of stealth."

"My name is Karoda, contract killer," stated an older man with glasses.

"Chinpo the wanderer, nice to meet you all," greeted a cheerful looking tubby man.

"My name is Shorin, a psychic in training. I have travelled the world in search of the perfect master," said the one who was only just taller than Genkai.

Both Harry and Kurama were instantly suspicious. The kid looked _way_ too young to have travelled the world and made a proper search like the one this kid was claiming. Besides, they were well experienced with spotting liars, given their respective pasts. Still, it was their turns to introduce themselves.

"Harry," he said, and nothing more.

"Kurama," supplied the red-head with a polite nod. "I came with Harry."

"Kuwabara Kazuma, the worst punk of Sarayashiki Junior High," announced the tall carrot-top.

"Urameshi Yusuke, the much, much _worse_ punk of Sarayashiki Junior High," quipped the detective with a very serious-looking grin.

A set of arrows with papers tied to them fell from the ceiling and struck the ground between the fighters and Genkai.

"Pick whichever you like," she instructed. "That will decide the order of these fights."

The first fight was between Chinpo the wanderer and Shorin the liar. Shorin won, and that he lied about how hard it was to win that fight did not at all surprise Harry or Kurama.

Kurama was up next, against the assassin Karoda.

"Let's get this clear," the man said. "In my line of work, I've been trained not to quit until they're dead."

"If you're asking about killing, I've already answered," Genkai said with a smirk. "Feel free to use any force necessary to ensure your victory."

"Yes, you said that twice," agreed the assassin. "But will you hold it against me if I turn out to be a cold-blooded killer."

"Young man, I am a psychic, not a saint," Genkai answered. "I'll teach whoever is strongest _regardless_ of any moral shortcomings."

"I'm very glad to hear that, it means I can fight without holding back," Karoda said with a smile.

"I'll plead your case if they've got issues Kurama," Harry said quietly.

"Thank you," Kurama answered, and headed off into the darkness without waiting for his foe. "But I'll leave him alive rather than risk it."

Ten seconds after Karoda charged into the shadows after him, Kurama re-emerged with a smile on his face and only a tiny tear in the front of his jacket – over where his heart was located.

Next was Kuwabara's fight against the eye-patch wearing Musashi.

"It's almost moving," Harry commented to Kurama as he absently offered a pepper-up potion. "To be a witness to a young man's first time materialising his spirit energy as something solid."

"Almost," Kurama agreed with a smile even as he politely refused the unbreakable glass vial with a gesture and a shake of the head. "You fight the ninja next," he reminded the man.

"Hmm, yes," Harry agreed, and sat down to remove his footwear – slipping his wand into the left boot at the same time so he wouldn't have to worry about it breaking in a fight where he wouldn't be using it. He set his boots beside his bag, and rolled his shoulders as he stood again.

"Why's he taking his shoes off?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama chuckled softly in amusement. "Close your eyes, Detective. Use your ears," he advised.

The sound of only one pair of feet on the floor echoed back, even though two people were vanishing into the darkness.

Urameshi and Kuwabara both blinked in surprise.

"He's silent..." the large carrot-top said. "And... I can't feel his spirit energy... It's like he doesn't exist any more!"

"I assure you, he is still out there," Kurama said calmly, a serene smile on his face.

"Begin!" Genkai ordered.

"Count back from five," Kurama said to the other two teens.

"Er... Five, four, three, two -" the two boys obliged.

Kazumaru then flew past them all and into the door behind them, which he connected to skull-first and _very_ solidly.

"One," finished Harry as he walked back into the small circle of light.

"How'd you do that?" Kuwabara yelped.

Harry shrugged. "For someone who has been trained in stealth, he's very loud," he answered easily as he sat down to pull his boots on again, slipping his wand up his sleeve at the same time. "I just didn't give him the opportunity to do more than punch at where he thought I was, then used his own momentum against him. Really, a very simple move that he just didn't expect. Nothing complex at all."

Then it was the last fight. Yusuke's fight. Punk kid managed to piss off Genkai enough to get her to throw her smoke into the darkness – where he found it again and was able to pick it up and use it to win his fight.

That left five people behind after the first round of this tournament of Genkai's.

"This is awkward," Harry noted as he stood. "Either someone has to fight twice, or someone gets a free pass."

"Very observant of you," Genkai noted with minor sarcasm. "And while I'm tempted to make _you_ fight twice for stating the obvious, the loser of the first fight will be fighting the extra person for the final spot instead. The first fight will be between Kazuma Kuwabara and Kurama. Now, all of you follow me."

Botan was waiting just outside the door, and joined them as they walked. "It seems that we know _who_ Rando is," Botan whispered to him at the back of the group. "After all, we've met Harry and Kurama before. Though I have to say, I would never have suspected _Shorin_ of being our criminal."

"Drink?" Kurama offered. "Harry came prepared and thought you might be thirsty."

"This isn't a trick is it?" Yusuke asked. "I mean, I know you helped out before, but..."

Kurama chuckled. "No trick Detective," he promised. "It might not taste very good, but you'll feel better after."

Yusuke shrugged and accepted the canteen, over-heading the bottle and nearly choking at the taste before he swallowed. "Man that's awful!" he complained, shaking his head to try and get the taste out of his mouth. "I do feel better though, somehow."

Kurama nodded and took back the canteen Harry had transfigured from the vial holding a pepper-up potion – the contents had remained the same of course.

"This will be your new fighting ground," Genkai announced as she came to a halt.

"What is it?" Kuwabara yelped, horrified by the scene.

"The site of an ancient battle," Genkai answered. "An entire army was overcome by madness. Thousands of soldiers attacked their own men. Restless souls fill this place."

"I'm seeing things here I never wanted to see!" Kuwabara said, moving back away from the swampy field. "Oh please, please! Someone take me home!" the boy begged, holding his head and determinedly not looking ahead.

"On this hillside, spirit energy begins to over take the body," Genkai informed them all. "It is perhaps the best place on earth to use spirit power, and as such the best place to have the next round of fights."

"Except that one of the combatants is nearly paralysed because of the horrors he's seeing," Harry pointed out politely.

"Nearly isn't totally!" Kuwabara objected. "I'm a _man_! I'll fight anyway!" he declared, marching out into the marsh.

"I apologise," Kurama said, bowing slightly to Yusuke. "I know that he is your friend, but I don't give away victories," he finished, then walked out to stand opposite Kuwabara.

"Begin!" Genkai ordered.

Kurama stood patiently as Kuwabara charged him, fist cocked back ready to punch. Kurama dodged easily the first, the second, the third and the fourth punch, a content little smile on his face even when he closed his eyes and continued to dodge the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth punches that Kuwabara continued to deliver so determinedly.

"Dammit, stand still!" Kuwabara yelled.

Kurama casually swept his leg out, catching Kuwabara about the ankles, tripping him and sending him face-first into the mud. The grass around the boy then sprung up and held him there, not permitting him any room to move.

"Winner, Kurama," Genkai announced.

"I can still fight!" Kuwabara objected from the mud.

"Not until I let you up though," Kurama pointed out kindly. "And as the loser of this fight, you must fight _again_. I thought leaving you in good condition for that later fight might be advisable."

Kuwabara grumbled, but conceded.

"Next fight is Harry versus Shorin," Genkai announced.

"What?!" Botan yelped.

"Be careful," Yusuke advised the older man quietly, a hand on his shoulder. "He's -"

"More than he appears to be, I know," Harry answered. "A kid that age searching the world for a perfect master? Yeah, I don't buy it. Kurama, mind my bag?" he asked, handing over the bag.

"Of course," Kurama agreed with a nod and a smile as he accepted the satchel.

"Actually," Harry said, hesitating in front of the boy and his bag, he opened it and reached in, grabbing hold of something before withdrawing his hand. A sword came out.

"That should _not_ have fit in there," Yusuke said, eyes wide.

"No way," Kuwabara agreed, blinking dumbly.

Harry slid off the scabbard and nodded at the blade, then stepped out to face his opponent, the Sword of Godric Gryffindor in his hand, sharp as ever and much more dangerous than when Harry had first taken hold of it at the age of twelve. After all, since then he'd learned how to use it properly. Not that he let on to any of the wizards of course.

Shorin (who was almost definitely the demon Rando) charged at Harry, bare-handed and somewhat stupidly.

Harry gave a controlled swing, and severed everything in the boy's neck but his vertebrae. While blood was flowing down the boy's neck, Harry shoved his sword through the boy's chest and _twisted_.

"What the heck was that?!" Yusuke yelped.

Kuwabara turned green and swallowed heavily.

Harry jerked the sword free and stood over the small body, green eyes focused on the still form of his fallen opponent. The illusion fell away, but the blood remained, and the head was no more attached to the body than it had been before. Rando was dead by Harry's blade.

"I believe the phrase is 'winning at all costs'," Harry said blankly as he returned to where Kurama stood, frozen, holding his bag. Harry took a cloth from a pocket on the outside of the bag and wiped the blood off the blade before sliding the sheath back on and putting the weapon back into the bag and taking it from Kurama.

"That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" Harry asked Botan lowly, his eyes half-hooded. "The criminal's reign of terror brought to an end?"

Botan swallowed nervously, but nodded.

Then Kuwabara and Yusuke had to fight, which ended the way it did every Saturday morning when they beat each other up – with Yusuke the victor and Kuwabara literally black and blue.

"Winner, the dimwit," Genkai intoned at the end of the fight. "Kurama against Harry."

"We will not be talking about this to your mother," Harry informed Kurama as they walked away from the others.

"Agreed," Kurama answered.

The two green-eyed males took their stances and charged each other, meeting in the middle and exchanging blows and blocks at an incredible pace. The knowledge of fighting that Harry had cultivated over the years – dealing with Dudley and Vernon beating him, all the people and monsters that wanted him dead over his years at Hogwarts, using the room of requirement for more than _just_ teaching the DA, and of course the _war_ he'd been a major part of – had been developed from running and protecting his soft parts to killing quickly and permanently. Not a lot of middle ground in there for a friendly spar. Which gave Kurama the advantage, since Harry didn't want to explain to Shiori just how her son had ended up _dead_. He supposed he _could_ use magic to stun the teen of course, or perhaps bind him like he had Hiei... It was certainly an appealing prospect now that he thought about it.

Kurama had the greater experience in fighting in this way however. Creating strategies based on the fighting style of his opponent, holding back just enough and having both himself and his opponent walk away from the fight alive, if not disproportionately harmed. Compensating for special techniques and avoiding them was part of that, so when Harry fired off his first spell, Kurama dodged expertly and used a grass seed to create a sword for himself before charging.

Ultimately, Kurama won, but it was a near thing and Harry had pretty much exhausted the kid (and himself) by constantly forcing Kurama to dodge spells from a distance and physical strikes when he got up close and personal. Eventually of course, Kurama's brilliant mind spotted an opening and took advantage of it.

One of Harry's contacts had fallen out, so he couldn't see anything on his left side properly. Kurama was able to make a series of solid and rapid strikes, putting Harry down.

"Bravo Kurama," Harry wheezed from where he lay on the ground. "Accio contact lens," he coughed out with an almost absent wave of his wand. The small disc – covered in mud and various other unpleasant things – shot towards Harry's hand, which closed gently but securely around it.

"Well, I _was_ going to have Yusuke fight the loser of _this_ battle as well before moving onto the final round, but I think we can all guess how that would turn out," Genkai commented.

"Yeah," Harry quipped from the ground. "I could send him a few stinging hexes, but I'm not going to make much difference at this point."

"So I'll let Kurama catch his breath, have a drink, and then we'll have the final match," Genkai declared firmly.

Catching his breath and having a drink – water this time, rather than pepper-up potion – didn't help Kurama much. He was still almost completely worn out from fighting Harry, and Yusuke was comparatively fresh. He did manage to avoid any hits to the face though, which meant he wouldn't have to explain any injuries to Shiori, even if it _also_ meant he had more bruises on his arms from blocking those hits.

"Guess we didn't make it," Kurama commented as he flopped down in the grass to sit beside Harry, who was still just lying there.

"No," he agreed. Then he smiled. "It was fun though," he added.

Kurama chuckled weakly. "I think we'd better indulge in some of your awful-tasting potions before heading back to where you parked your car, Harry, or we'll crash on the way home," he said. "You seem to have brain damage."

Harry laughed, freely and from his stomach, despite the pain.

"You," Genkai snapped as she stood over Harry.

"Yes Ma'am?" Harry asked, not budging from where he lay, spread out, on the ground.

"You're the one who actually called ahead and asked about what would be involved, aren't you?" she questioned, eyed narrowed at him.

Harry nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

"I'm impressed that a _wizard_ was able to come so far, and brought a demon with him," she said, sparing a glance for Kurama.

"Well, he's a top student at his school, perfect attendance record, and a very good neighbour. I thought he'd enjoy a bit of variety," Harry offered.

Genkai grunted. "I'll write you up a list of training techniques and you are to return every second weekend for me to see how you're going. For now, just take these kids back to their families."

"Aye-aye Ma'am," Harry answered, giving as much of a salute as he could in his condition before weakly summoning his bag and grabbing a potion out of it. He still had one of his contacts in his hand though, so he was reading the labels on the potions with just one eye until he was in a good enough condition to be able to clean the darn thing.

Genkai used her spirit wave technique to restore Kuwabara and Kurama – Yusuke had broken a few bones in their fights – while Harry drank his potions until he had the energy to magic his lens clean and felt assured he would be able to walk back to where he'd parked.


	4. Chapter 4

Between school, homework, spending time with his human mother, and spending time with Harry – which usually involved further studies in the delicate art of brewing or training together using the techniques that Genkai had listed for Harry's use – Kurama worked on improving his personal relations with the Spirit World, particularly Koenma. He wanted his criminal record expunged, and Hiei released. For preference with _his_ criminal record expunged as well. He had his _reasons_ for committing the theft in his favour, and when he explained why Hiei wanted to take over Spirit World – access to resources that would allow him to find his lost twin sister – Koenma allowed that they _might_ be able to grant some allowance to mitigating circumstances towards the fire demon as well.

It ended... well enough, he supposed. Hiei was released from prison and there was the promise that working with the Spirit Detective on at least one case (depending on how hard it was) would see their records completely cleared. Provided, of course, that they committed no further crimes against Spirit World law.

A littler more discussion – including introducing Harry to Koenma – led to Hiei being ordered to live with Harry where the human would act as a sort of parole officer. The story Harry told Shiori (and anyone else who asked) was that Hiei was an estranged relation of his late godfather's staying with him because of family issues.

"That is to say," Harry always said in a confiding tone, "he has issues with his family, much like my godfather did when he was alive. Best to not talk about it."

This all suited Kurama just fine, having all the people he actually cared about in one place. No offence to the Detective, but Kurama didn't know him well enough to slot him into the same category as Harry, Hiei and Shiori just yet. All this meant that spending time with Harry now generally included spending time with Hiei – especially when he became interested in the potions Harry was teaching Kurama to brew. He also joined in the training sometimes. Of course, Hiei just as often disappeared – either to train on his own or continue searching for his sister.

Harry had wanted to offer his magic as a way to perhaps point Hiei in the right direction at least, but when he looked up tracking spells... they all needed something. A name would be enough, but only if the person being tracked was within ten miles. That his wand hadn't so much as twitched when he'd tried meant that Yukina was too far away to be found using the only method they could realistically use. They didn't have any of her hair or blood to use to make something that would locate her signature, and they _definitely_ didn't have a device keyed to a different type of tracking spell that had already been placed upon her person. Hiei's blood wouldn't work for trying to find his sister either, any tracking device made with his blood would just lead to him. There was a saddening _lack_ of magics that could be used for finding blood relations. Lots for _verifying_ blood relations, but not for _finding_ them. It was most unfortunate.

Then again... some of the training was pretty... _unfortunate_ as well. Things like balancing on one finger above a spike using their energy to hold them up. This was particularly hard for Harry, who couldn't seem to get up onto one finger at all without help. Then he went to Genkai for his first fortnightly 'progress assessment', and she showed him how it was _supposed_ to be done. She had him standing his ground against energy attacks as well before he returned home the following Monday. He could handle the sleeping on a bed of nails (in place of with snakes, with permission from Genkai, as he could talk to them), the incredibly rigorous physical workout regimen, even the meditating on a bonfire for a week wasn't too bad (and that was _without_ the flame-freezing spell that made being burned at the stake a not only _survivable_ experience for the magical population during the witch hunts, but a _pleasant_ one). There were other things too of course. Climbing a five-metre high bamboo pole with weights on every limb as fast as possible (every morning when he wasn't doing some other exercise that meant he couldn't move from his spot), going a full day without use of one or more of his limbs (generally having the limb or limbs strapped rather than applying magic to prevent its use), and leaving town to meditate under a proper waterfall (the shower just lacked the pounding downward force) every weekend that Harry didn't go and see Genkai just to name a few.

This quasi-routine lasted for six months before Kurama and Hiei got a call from Koenma about that 'helping the Spirit Detective on a case' bit that they'd agreed to. Harry was due to return from Genkai's the next day, so Koenma called him at her temple to fill him in – at the same time letting Genkai know that he needed Yusuke back, and she _had_ initially said a six month apprentice-ship.

Genkai was reportedly _not_ happy, mostly because Yusuke was even more of a slacker than he was a dimwit, and hadn't applied himself to her satisfaction.

Harry still drove the kid back to his apartment the next day on his way home, though he _might_ have left out the bit about him only being released from Genkai's training because of a case that needed his immediate attention.

Hiei and Kurama both hummed and quietly smirked in amusement when Harry admitted that to them when he got home and found them waiting for him in his kitchen.

"Will you be coming with us?" Kurama asked curiously. "To Maze Castle I mean, to help put a stop to the Saint Beasts."

Harry shrugged. "As an adult who is at least _partially_ responsible for your well-being, I probably _should_ tag along. On the other hand, I could be useful on this end keeping the infected under control," he answered.

Hiei smirked. "I know which _I_ would prefer," he stated. "The Saint Beasts would be a more challenging fight, and I am actually allowed to kill them, unlike the pitiful humans of _this_ world."

Harry chuckled, then pulled down a little leather pouch from a shelf. A moke-skin pouch that would shrink if anybody but him tried to open it, and that held a good amount of wizarding money. Just for casual shopping trips to the few local (and well-hidden) wizarding shops he'd managed to find in the area. He took out a single silver coin and tossed it to Hiei.

The shot demon caught it and glared at Harry, silently demanding to know what the human was up to.

"If it comes up heads, I'll go with you two. Tails, I stay here," Harry said.

Hiei nodded and positioned the coin over thumb and forefinger, a quick flick and the coin launched into the air, spinning as it rose then fell. Kurama snatched it out of the air and slammed the coin down onto the back of his other hand before peeling his palm away to reveal the result.

"Heads," Kurama stated with a smile.

"I guess I'm taking you on a little 'educational outing' then, aren't I?" Harry asked Kurama with a grin as he took back his silver. "I'll tell Shiori. You put on something _other_ than your school uniform. It wouldn't do to get it damaged in a fight after all," Harry pointed out.

It was a couple of hours before Botan fetched them to go through the same small breach she'd already sent Yusuke through, despite his protests, (and Kuwabara, who'd volunteered). This allowed plenty of time for Hiei to be sharpen his sword, Kurama to switch his uniform for the clothes he used when training with Harry and Hiei as well as choose a selection of seeds, and for Harry to change into his dragon-hide armour and stock a wallet (with expansion and feather-weight charms) full of healing and restorative draughts.

The sight they arrived to when they emerged from the breech was both entertaining and slightly depressing: Urameshi and Kuwabara being overwhelmed by a horde of extremely minor demons. A small flex of their energies sent them all running.

"It seems you could use some help," Kurama observed from where the three of them landed on a branch.

"If those _nothings_ were too much for you, then we're going to have some _serious_ trouble," Hiei added grimly. Lightning flashed dramatically overhead, prompting the three of them to jump down from the tallest lightning conductor in the area apart from the castle itself.

"Hello," Harry greeted with a smile.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yusuke asked.

"Even that fool Koenma realised that it would be foolish to rely on _humans_ to try and eliminate the _Saint Beasts_," Hiei quipped, his tone completely and contemptuously disparaging.

"Koenma has also assured us that by helping you with this job we can clean our slates in Spirit World," Kurama added more pleasantly. It was his usual artificial-platitudes tone that he most often used when talking to his classmates.

"Chaperone," Harry offered flatly with a single raised hand.

"I guess Koenma heard me complain," Yusuke said with a chuckle. "Hey Kuwabara, you remember Potter-san and Kurama from Genkai's tournament, right? And this guy is Hiei."

"I don't really have a clue what's going on, but it sure is nice to have a helping hand," Kuwabara said, a smile on his face.

"'Helping' is _not_ the right word," Hiei stated, his expression looking to be only a few muscle-twitches away from rolling his eyes. "Koenma may regard us as equals, but I do not. Once we get inside, I suggest you let us do the work. As far as I'm concerned, we're _babysitting_."

Kurama closed his eyes and hummed a quiet chuckle, agreeing without words.

"_Chaperone_," Harry reiterated as he pointed to himself.

"Listen, you puny jerk-face," Kuwabara objected, bending to bring his face closer to Hiei's. "I'm gonna have to beat you up if you keep talkin' down to us that way."

"Let's avoid fighting," Hiei suggested. "You're not worth it," he added firmly. It was essentially his whole reason for _not_ fighting most of the people on Earth. To him, they just weren't worth the effort. Or the prison sentence if he, a demon, killed any human he _did_ fight.

"Oh that's it!" Kuwabara objected, pulling his fist back and launching it at Hiei, who simply stepped out of the way.

And into a very confrontational stance up in Urameshi's face.

"But _you_, Detective, are a different story," Hiei informed him. "I plan to take my revenge on you, so consider this fair warning."

"Gonna ignore me, huh?" Kuwabara demanded, getting up and trying again, only to miss again.

"Hiei, we must face this current business _before_ you start your own," Kurama said gently.

"Don't worry, _Three-eyes_," Yusuke answered with a smirk. "If we _survive_ this, I'll be glad to take you on. Now is this a perfect team, or what?"

Kuwabara growled at Hiei, who turned up his nose at the teen.

"Well, now _this_ is homey," Yusuke said sarcastically when they reached a clearly constructed opening in the wall surrounding Maze castle.

"Is it bad that I know someone for whom that would _not_ be a sarcastic comment?" Harry asked semi-rhetorically from the rear of the group.

"Is this someone still alive?" Kurama queried.

"No," Harry answered with a shrug. "I killed them before moving to Japan."

"Then it's not _too_ bad," Kurama answered.

"So... We're just gonna walk right in?" Kuwabara asked.

"Any prize worth having usually comes with a risk," Kurama suggested.

"I say we make 'em come out here and fight us up front like they're not a bunch of sissies!" Kuwabara declared.

Hiei actually chuckled. Normally, that was quite a difficult achievement, but he seemed to find great amusement in the tall teen's idiocy. "Your sense of _strategy_ is _amazing_," he commented.

"Are you talkin' to me?!" Kuwabara demanded.

"Let's _go_!" Yusuke snapped, made somewhat tense by all the talk going around when he was much more a man-of-action sort of person. Having given the order, the kid suited actions to words and led them into the tunnel.

They were almost out when something entered the tunnel from the other end.

"Welcome to Maze Castle," greeted a... flying eyeball. It was mostly purple around the white of the eye, with a yellow iris and had bat-like wings sprouting from the sides of its... well, of it, and a few tentacles hanging below, but no mouth to speak of. Or with. Which made things a little confusing.

Kuwabara obligingly stated the obvious by saying: "Whoa, it talked..."

"Those who wish to enter Maze Castle must first be tried by the Gate of Betrayal," the eyeball-bat continued, its tone somewhere between informative and amusedly smug.

"What do you mean, 'tried'?" Yusuke asked the minor demon.

The eyeball-bat flew out of the tunnel towards the wall that was in clear sight of them all, only to find that Harry was waiting for it, wand drawn.

"After long enough, you learn to stop _stopping_ to ask your foe stupid questions," Harry said firmly once a small red flash had left the eyeball-bat comatose on the ground. "You coming, kiddies?" he asked with a smile. "Or do you _want_ me to pull this switch he was going for?" he added, raising an eyebrow pointedly as he jerked his thumb at the lever in question.

"Coming!" the two teens yelped, running the last bit out of the gate, Kurama and Hiei right behind them.

Botan checked in with them not long after, reporting that progress was slow, and Yusuke asked Kurama what he knew of the Saint Beasts – not having actually been told much about them before being shoved through the portal.

"Spirit World intelligence pretty much forgot about this place after the barrier went up," he answered. "As for the Saint Beasts... well, I think you will be surprised when you see them."

"More like terrified," a deep, gravelly voice intoned, a malicious laugh echoing through a door they had only just reached. "Please come in."

"Okay, I'm surprised," Kuwabara said, flinching back when the light from the burning torches showed them the being that was waiting for them.

"I am Genbu of the Four Saint Beasts," the thing said. "Behind me is a stair way that is the only way up to the castle tower. You can either defeat me and take it, or you can die, and I will drag your corpses to be hung from pikes as a message to all of Spirit World. Come, fight me all at once, so the last of you doesn't get lonely as he waits for death to come."

"He's a rock Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelped, eyes wide. "How are we supposed to fight against a talking rock?!"

Kurama stepped forward. "Please let me handle this one," he requested firmly.

"You sure that's such a good idea?" Yusuke asked quietly.

"It would be ill advised for all of us to attack without first knowing his power," Kurama answered calmly. "Besides, I need to get at least a _little_ bit of the credit for this mission, don't I?" he teased as he looked over his shoulder at them, particularly locking eyes with Hiei as a smile danced across his lips and shone in his bright green eyes. The implication that the shorter demon would deal with all of the Saint Beasts on his own if Kurama didn't put himself forward first.

Hiei abruptly looked away, suddenly more interested in a portion of the far wall.

"Hey, wouldn't it be better if we all attacked together?" Yusuke asked as Kurama turned away from them and continued to approach the foe.

"You are clearly underestimating Kurama," Hiei snipped at the detective. "I choose to fight beside him, to be his partner, so that I never have to fight _against_ him," he informed the teen as Kurama approached Genbu. "Watch. He's more cut-throat than I am when it comes to battle, and unbelievably precise."

"The only reason you stood a chance against Kurama at Genkai's was because I'd already worn him out so much before hand," Harry added to what Hiei was saying. "That, and you have the devil's own luck."

Of course, there was also the fact that, over the last six months, Kurama had made more of an effort to drive himself back to his previous level of skill (that of an A-class demon) than Urameshi had at improving himself. Certainly, Kurama had finally re-mastered his _favourite_ weapon in that time-frame, something which had been annoyingly elusive for years.

"I don't know guys, he's _still_ a talking rock," Kuwabara said hesitantly.

"Sir," Kurama said as he stopped just a couple of metres away from his opponent. "The first move is yours."

Unseen at the back of the group, Harry slammed the palm of his hand against his forehead and dragged the hand down over his face, looking out between his fingers. He knew Kurama was a great strategist and all, but _letting_ your opponent take a free hit just so that you can learn _how_ they attack is almost _always_ a bad idea.

"Hey! He's doing something freaky with his tail!" Yusuke called out.

Something that Kurama noticed himself, and didn't completely dodge, taking a strike against his stomach. But at least it wasn't his head, and he _did_ manage to land on his feet, even if he _was_ injured.

Genbu laughed, and bragged, explaining to them just how his attack worked. He was stone, and he could combine himself with any other stone, and so he could effectively use his tail as a weapon from any point in the stone room they were in, and furthermore he could use the stone of the room to extend his tail as required for his attack.

It was impressive, intimidating, but as Kurama proved shortly, _not_ impossible to beat. Even when Genbu proved that simply dicing him up with the rose whip wasn't enough to stop him. Most particularly, Genbu being in lots of little pieces made it _easier_ for Kurama to finish him off, by finding and destroying the part of his brain that actually held him together the right way.

Still, despite his composure, Kurama _was_ injured. The initial attack that had gotten him in the gut, and taking the barrage of stones flying at him so that he could catch that one bit had left Kurama in less than perfect fighting condition.

"Good work Kurama!" Yusuke congratulated, gaze fixed on where Genbu had been.

Kurama, for his part, finally let his knees give out from underneath him – to be caught by Harry, the chaperone with the medical supplies who was more focused on the shorter people he was minding than he was on the enemy.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yusuke asked as he, Kuwabara and Hiei all rushed to Kurama's side.

"If Kurama is injured, we're going to have some problems," Hiei announced, his concern carefully hidden from the two teens he was standing with.

"Sorry about this," Kurama said softly, an arm cradling his injured stomach.

"Not as sorry as you will be when you taste the blood-replenishing potion," Harry quipped, taking one such vial out of his wallet and pressing it into the fox-boy's hand. "Drink," he ordered, and took out his wand to spell any and all injuries closed. "When we get back to my house, I'll have you strip and apply salve to _everything_, mark my words."

Kurama chuckled, downed the potion, and pulled a face at the taste before handing back the vial.

"I reckon you've earned yourself a break," Yusuke said to Kurama as the red-head took his own weight again.

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "I'll handle the next one."

~oOo~

The next one was Byakko, a tiger-like monster with a big mouth and even bigger opinion of himself, but dangerous all the same. Especially dangerous to Kuwabara, who insisted that he'd 'dibs-ed' the next fight and he was going to darn-well fight it! Even if his legs were shaking and Byakko was more inclined to laugh at Kuwabara than take him seriously as an opponent.

An attitude that was somewhat justified with the way Kuwabara was flailing about against four monsters that Byakko created from his hair, and further had them chase him down the narrow strip so that he could spear all of them in a line with his sword. Which didn't stop them coming, so he had to keep running.

"Do you think he knows it's a circle?" Hiei asked as Kuwabara went around the side of the tower where they were waiting.

If he didn't before, he certainly did when he came upon the other end of his sword, grabbed it - "And then you just twist and seal!" the boy declared as he stepped back, the four monsters all held in place around the tower with his sword going through them all. "That's a little move I like to call the Spirit Sword Monster Beast Donut!"

"Idiot," Hiei commented quietly.

"I think 'monster beast donut' is a _perfect_ name," Kurama countered in his 'platitude voice'.

Yusuke laughed and turned to face Byakko. "Scuse me sir, I don't like this one. You got chocolate with sprinkles?" he taunted.

"To call something a 'monster beast' is redundant, and donuts are supposed to be edible," Harry said. "That isn't. But whatever. There's still Byakko himself to kill, remember kiddies?"

"I _do_ wish you'd stop lumping me together with them every time you say that," Hiei growled, even as Kuwabara headed back to face the tiger.

Byakko didn't take well to being taunted by his 'prey', and destroyed his own beasties and the tower they surrounded.

Still, Kuwabara attacked, and attacked stupidly. He managed to win stupidly too. Or at least, they thought so for long enough to get a quick call from Botan. Then Byakko was roaring again and inviting them down to his 'lair' to finish the fight. Which meant Kuwabara. Brat even managed to impress Hiei with his honour code – a creature much more simple than Hiei's own, but that a human had _any_ honour code at all impressed the short fire demon somewhat.

Much more impressive was that Kuwabara won _again_, even if he _did_ nearly die in the process, again. Which really pissed of Yusuke, and kinda revealed just how much he valued his friend, the way he broke down when he believed the worst had happened.

"Okay, he fell into the lava pit, _now_ I am going to _force_ healing on you," Harry stated firmly once they'd gotten Kuwabara back up onto the platform where they were standing.

Kuwabara grumbled, but acquiesced, especially complaining about the taste of the potions Harry fed him, but they were on the move again fairly quickly, especially once Kuwabara picked the right door for them when they hit the maze part of Maze Castle.

Hiei's fight against the next Saint Beast, Seiryuu, was easily the fastest fight so far, which made sense considering how very fast he was capable of being when he cared to. Of course, an _ice master_ against a _fire demon_ wasn't really going to work that well for the former, especially when he didn't _know_ he was facing a fire demon. His actions before and after served to confuse his team mates a bit though. He had his own honour code after all, a very complex one that only he completely knew and understood, not even Harry and Kurama who had both been actively trying pretty much since they had met the small demon.

On top of that, Hiei was beginning to actually _like_ the humans he was currently being forced to work with.

"Well, you're unharmed," Harry declared easily. "Do you want a pepper-up potion anyway?" he offered, the vial of potion half pulled out of his wallet already.

"No, thank you," Hiei answered in a tone that counted as polite from him.

Harry shrugged, and put the potion and his wallet away without making a fuss, then checked his watch. "We've been here three and a half hours already," he stated, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead in surprise.

"Really?" Yusuke asked. "It doesn't feel like it's been that long."

"I'll bet it's felt like _longer_ to Botan-san, having to hunt down _bugs_ in a _city_ of all things, and dealing with infected people," Harry pointed out. "I suggest we wrap this up in time for the evening meal, hmm?" he suggested. "No more stopping to admire the scenery."

Heads nodded, and the Detective led the way through the next door at a run.

They did stop once on the way to the tower though, when Botan called again – to let them know that the infected people were hunting Yusuke's girl Keiko, likely with the intention of causing said girl severe bodily harm and/or death.

Harry passed around the pepper-ups and all five of them were running even faster than before – that is to say, Hiei was going at his top speed and everybody else was (for once) able to just about keep up with the speedster as they all raced for the tower. As far as the wizard was concerned, it was a damn good thing he'd been following Genkai's training regimen so seriously. The only time he'd come close to this speed before had been when he was on a broom or in his car; he'd _never_ been this fast on his own two feet before.

They were almost at the base of the tower, almost to the door, when out of two side doors a whole lot of plant-human hybrids came out to block their way.

"What are these things?" Urameshi demanded with a growl.

"Cultivated humans," Hiei answered.

"Humans grown like plants in fields to be used as slaves, or cannon fodder as the case may be," Kurama explained slightly. "These ones look a bit more plant-like than usual though."

"Pod people," Harry translated. "Emphasis on the pod." He took out his wand. "Incendio!" he yelled, pointing the little stick at them, making a sweeping motion across the spread of foes blocking their way. They each and every one caught light and fell where they stood, turning into piles of ash and charcoal. "We've got somewhere else to be, remember?" he reminded them all sharply as he put the wand away and charged through the fire that wasn't all dead yet.

The other four just stared after him for a moment before Yusuke said "You heard the man!" and charged as well. The others followed quickly after that.

They'd just crested the top of the stairs in time to see Harry raise his wand again.

"Accio whistle!" he said, his tone demanding as he pointed his slim stick at the large _thing_ being held by the last Saint Beast.

The whistle jerked up, even in the demon's hand. It rose, it tugged the foe along a couple of steps before he grit his teeth, dug in his feet, and refused to move any further. He had to take hold of the whistle with both hands to keep it from wrenching free of his grip.

Then there was a bird in Harry's face and he was forced to release the spell so that he could stop it from scratching his eyes out. "Bloody bird," Harry growled. "Sectumsempra."

"Ooh!" the avian cried as her entire front turned into a bloody mess before Harry grabbed one of her feet and threw her at a wall.

"This one's mine," Yusuke growled, stepping up to the plate to take on this, the last of the Saint Beasts.

"I am Suzaku," he declared, self-importantly, now that he was no longer in danger of being dragged towards Harry by the whistle he was still holding onto. "I've been watching a movie," he added smugly, gesturing to the great screen behind him where Keiko and Botan were on display, running from the people who had been infected by the makai insects.

"You," Urameshi said, both fists tense at his sides. "Have pissed me off."

"What was that you did?" Hiei asked quietly as the four of them stood to the side and just watched the fight.

"To the bird? It was a _particularly_ nasty curse developed by my potions instructor when he was about the Detective's age. Before with the whistle? A summoning charm. I can summon just about anything within a mile that isn't tied down in any way. If it's behind a locked door then it will come from a half a mile and somewhat damaged, less damaged if it's behind glass. If it's being held onto tightly like that whistle though, not so easy, as you saw. Having line of sight helped of course, but I'd venture that unless that thing is tougher than it looks that he came _very_ close to breaking it just to keep a hold of it," Harry answered. "Only works on inanimate objects for any real distance though. Anything living can't be more than twenty metres away, and it is possible to spell things against the summoning charm. Annoying, but even magic has its limitations," he explained with a slight scowl.

"Oh look," Kurama commented with a slight smile. "Suzaku has made more than enough replicas for us _all_ to join in the fight and not get in the Detective's way."

"Goody," Hiei purred with malicious glee, removing his coat and drawing his sword before he charged in and engaged one of the foe.

"That's almost two each," Harry commented to Kurama just before the red-head did the same as his friend.

"Harry?" he asked, pausing curiously.

"I'll keep trying to get the whistle, but I'm the medic for this, remember? And I still suck at hand-to-hand combat in general when I don't have surprise on my side. I'd throw curses around when I've got a good shot, but I'm afraid I'd only get yelled at for 'interfering'," Harry answered with a smile

Five summoning charms, four dead Suzaku's, a couple of _seriously_ beaten up teenagers, and a _regenerated_ Suzaku (thanks to his little trick of summoning back all the energy that he had split into the other six), and Harry slammed his hand into his forehead for being stupid.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the enemy.

Suzaku gasped in shock when the whistle flew from his hand, which let Yusuke get in a _very_ solid punch that sent him flying straight into Hiei's waiting sword. The whistle, on the other hand...

"Confringo," Harry said quietly, wand carefully aimed at the troublesome item that was still flying through the air towards him thanks to the disarming spell. The blasting curse lived up to its name and reputation, causing the whistle to rather explosively catch fire, hence be destroyed, hence fail to sustain all the makai insects on Earth, and by that measure ensure that Keiko and Botan were safe from the people who had been infected.

"Potter-san, you're pretty cool for a grown-up," Yusuke complimented as Harry started checking everybody over for injuries that needed treating.

Kuwabara was the worst off, having pretty much been laid out by one of Suzaku's lightning bolts, but thankfully he had a very strong will to live, and would survive the near-death experience. The Detective was close behind him, having taken _three_ of the things to various body-parts as well as having a lot of general 'being thrown across the room' type injuries. Hiei and Kurama were tired, but had dodged Suzaku's attacks on their persons much better than the other two.

It was pepper-ups, blood-replenishers, water and chicken soup all round.

"Yeah, well, I was a lot like you when I was a kid," Harry answered the boy absently. He'd just lost a lot more of his fights when he was a kid.


	5. Chapter 5

"What's up Hiei?" Harry asked the demon in his kitchen.

The demon who was putting away a communication mirror and scowling.

"Koenma wants me to deliver a mission package to the Detective. Apparently it's urgent, and I'm the fastest person they have any access to," Hiei answered, deeply unimpressed. "I've agreed, but I'm not happy about this."

Harry chuckled. "Well, if you want to see what he's being sent off on now, I have a time-turner that will send you back in time one hour for every turn. That should let you get through the information, put it back perfectly, and still get it to the boy in time," he offered.

"Thank you," the shorter male answered, and vanished out the nearest open window.

Harry chuckled, amused, once his kitchen was exclusively his own again. Having Hiei living with him sure made things _interesting_ sometimes.

The 'mission package' was a video tape. It was about half an hour long and _very_ comprehensive, especially when compared to the amount of information that had been provided on the _last_ case Urameshi had been sent on. The information also had Hiei gritting his teeth a very short way in, his fists clenched at his sides as he forced himself to watch the whole thing through rather than rushing off and possibly missing something important.

At the end of the recording Koenma stated "If Hiei gets wind of this, he could well go on a killing spree. It is _illegal_ for demons to kill humans in living world. Don't you dare fail, Yusuke. Quite apart from the fact that I am very much against what Tarukane is doing, Hiei is considered too valuable for me to want to send you after him for doing something that I _personally_ would not fault him for, but would still have to sentence him for."

Harry had palmed his wand as soon as he noticed Hiei's grinding teeth and tense frame, and fired off an "Immobulous!" firmly at the same time as Koenma wished Yusuke luck. Harry then stopped the tape and pressed the rewind button so that the tape could be delivered to Yusuke. He fetched the time-turner and, once he'd popped the tape out, looped the chain around his own neck and Hiei's, the short demon unable to object while still under the effects of the spell.

"Okay, it _is_ urgent," Harry agreed as he turned the small hourglass back single hour's worth. When the magic stopped, it was possible to hear Harry in the kitchen offering the use of the time turner to Hiei. "And I'm coming with you," Harry continued in a much softer voice as he tucked the time-turner away and pulled out his wand to levitate Hiei out a different window. "I'm your parole officer, remember?"

Hiei grunted, but Harry took that as acceptance and cancelled his spell, then the two of them headed off towards the apartment that Urameshi shared with his mother. Not too fast though. It wouldn't do to deliver the tape before Spirit World handed it over to Hiei to deliver. Minor paradoxes were best avoided, even if it _was_ urgent.

~oOo~

"Minamino-san, I wonder if I could trouble you to do me a small favour," Harry said with a pleasant smile.

He had dragged Hiei back to the house after delivering the video. It would _not_ do for Spirit World to become suspicious. However, they hadn't _entered_ Harry's house either, since at that very moment Harry and Hiei were inside watching the tape. The two of them were currently standing on the front step of the Minamino house.

"Potter-san, Hiei-san, what a pleasant surprise, please come in and you can explain," Shiori answered with a smile.

"Thank you," Harry said, bowing politely.

Hiei just nodded slowly and followed behind. He had _not_ enjoyed being hit by that immobulous before, and did not doubt that Harry would use the spell again if he thought it necessary. Besides, the human seemed to have a plan.

Shiori showed them to the kitchen and made tea. Once they were all settled around the kitchen table, Harry began.

"You recall when Hiei came to live with me," Harry started. "I said it was because of issues with his family that were best not talked about."

Shiori nodded, cautiously, glancing at Hiei. She also remembered Harry saying that these were issues best not talked about _in front of Hiei_, which led her to wondering what had changed. Hiei was silent, though his whole posture and expression was radiating tension.

"Most particularly, the issues with Hiei's family were that they were keeping him from his twin sister. We have just recently learned that the poor girl has been kidnapped," Harry said gently.

Shiori gasped, horrified on behalf of the girl she hadn't ever met and had only just learned of.

"Worse," Harry continued, "is that Hiei's family and hers have no intention of coming to her rescue. I suspect that they blame the girl's own desire to leave the family estate on her present situation, and see this as an appropriate consequence," Harry lamented quietly.

Hiei's grit teeth, and the way he was digging his nails into the palms of his hands, and the very, _very_ slight nod of his head which agreed with the theory lent a great deal of credence to the tale. The ice apparitions of the floating glacier in Demon World _would_ blame Yukina for her situation. They were foolish and heartless like that.

"So it is our intention to go to her rescue," Harry finished with a slight smile.

Shiori's expression of empathetic fear melted into a similar smile before a frown of worry once more took up its place. "That sounds very dangerous, Potter-san," Shiori commented.

Harry smiled, a brighter, much more sure smile. One of confidence and surety. "We won't be going alone," he promised. "We have friends who work in a sort of detective agency," he explained, bending the truth like a pipe-cleaner. "They are very good at this sort of thing, and will be helping us rescue her."

Shiori nodded and smiled in relieved acceptance of this explanation. "Alright," she agreed. "But why do you need to ask _me_ a favour?" she asked.

Harry chuckled, ducked his head, and smiled a bit sheepishly. "Well, I thought that once we'd rescued Yukina-chan, she might live with Hiei and myself in my house..."

Shiori laughed, catching on to what Harry was dancing around saying, and asking of her. "And you have no idea what a young lady would need, and certainly no clothes for her. If she has been kidnapped, likely she will have only the clothes she is wearing, and will need more."

Harry nodded, a hopeful look in his green eyes and a sheepish smile on his face. "I can provide the money to pay for such things," he said. "But I do not know what would be best to buy."

"Is Yukina-san about the same height as you, Hiei-san?" Shiori asked politely.

Hiei nodded. "With the same colour eyes," he added.

"But definitely takes after her mother in all other aspects, where you take after your father, hmm?" Harry quipped kindly. "I believe that she likes kimono, but even as long as I have been here, I still do not understand women's kimono. I barely understand _men's_ kimono, and still only have the sets that you chose for me that first shopping trip so long ago."

Shiori laughed, politely, at the young man. "I will be delighted to have an excuse to shop for new kimono," she assured them with a smile. "If you will wait for me to fetch a tape measure? If I measure _you_, Hiei-san, then I will be better able to pick a kimono of the correct size for your sister."

Hiei eyed Shiori a moment, then Harry, before looking back at Shiori and nodding his acquiescence.

While Shiori was fetching her tape measure from her sewing kit, Harry took out wand and house key, and duplicated the latter for Shiori to use. He also pulled out his wallet and started counting out how much he thought a full wardrobe for a young woman, as well as necessities, unmentionables, and a few special extras, was likely to cost.

"Would you also like me to make up one of your spare bedrooms _properly_ while you are gone looking for her?" Shiori asked once she'd finished measuring Hiei and writing those measurements down.

Harry nodded. "Please," he answered. "I have the first bedroom at the top of the stairs, Hiei has the next on the left. The other two are clean but empty, with dust-covers over the mattresses. The spare rooms downstairs have long been put to other uses."

"I'm sure they are all impeccably clean though," Shiori teased fondly. "You are a very good housekeeper Potter-san. Perhaps soon you should think about finding a wife though, hmm?" she suggested with a sly smile.

"Minamino-san! You have a boyfriend!" Harry objected with wide eyes and a slight smile that belied his shocked tone as teasing.

Shiori shooed them out after that to rescue Yukina, promising to tell Shuichi where they had gone when he got back from school later.

Harry checked his watch – confirmed that the appropriate amount of time had passed – and went into his own house for a couple of things. Things like Gryffindor's Sword, a few potions, his invisibility cloak, and his car keys. Then he and Hiei were off to the mountain where Tarukane Gonzu's mansion sat, with Yukina trapped in one of the towers.

"Just remember Hiei," Harry said as he drove. "_Killing_ humans will land you in Spirit World prison again."

"Hn."

~oOo~

Kurama caught up with Harry and Hiei at almost exactly five minutes after school would have let out for the day. Koenma had apparently provided a portal for the boy, as Kurama was rather invested in making sure Hiei didn't risk _both_ of their freedoms by doing anything rash. Rather than going through the front door as Kuwabara, Urameshi and Botan had however, Harry led them around the back door and in quietly.

With the hubbub over the frontal assault, they weren't paid any mind at all as they wandered their way through the massive halls.

"It looks like our boys have been giving you a hard time," Harry purred as the three of them found the room where Tarukane was waiting for the fight below to begin, his manservant at his side and Yukina there with guards around her.

"Your boys?" Tarukane asked.

"Mm," Harry hummed speculatively in answer. "Well, more or less," he said with a shrug.

"And just who are you, stranger?" asked the bearded, spectacled man on one of the screens.

"I am Lord Potter," Harry answered, simply. "Englishman, gentleman, nobleman, and knight of the realm to her Majesty the Queen of England." He smiled at the memory of being knighted back when he was seventeen for a moment, then stepped forwards. Towards Yukina specifically, ignoring the guards around her, and gently took her hand in his, bowing over it so that his lips only just brushed the skin of her knuckles.

Behind him, Kurama was trying not to laugh, and Hiei was trying not to growl – both having quickly recovered from the surprise they had felt over Harry's titles. In the stadium below, the fight had begun.

Harry looked up from where he was bent still and smiled at the sight of Yukina's face.

"Yes," he said softly. "The same eyes. More innocent, certainly, but just the same."

"Hey! Hands off!" Tarukane ordered harshly.

Harry straightened and turned, a frosty look glinting in his emerald green eyes, hard as the gems they so resembled. "Ugly little paupers like you have no business giving orders," he informed the older, but definitely shorter and _very_ ugly man.

"Pauper!?" Tarukane yelled, insulted and infuriated. "Where do you get off calling _me_ a _pauper_?!"

Harry looked pointedly towards the stadium where the fight was still ongoing. "If you put all of your money in that room, it would be, what? Two feet deep at an even spread? Using the largest denomination of currency available to you, of course. Now, if _I_ were do do the same thing, there _might_ be two feet of air-space left at the top, probably less."

Jaws dropped. Tarukane's, all the members of the Black Black Club, the guards, Yukina, even Hiei and Kurama. Living as humbly as he did, even if it was comfortably without having to actually work, they neither of them had ever suspected such a thing of the man. Then again, they hadn't known about his titles either, so what was one more surprise?

Harry turned to Hiei. "You're not allowed to kill him," he reminded the demon. "I don't think there are any laws about causing him _pain_, however."

Hiei grinned maliciously and stepped forward, not even bothering to draw his sword.

"I saw the talismans hung in the tower," Hiei commented as he stalked up to the short, fat, ugly man.

"We all did," Harry agreed, knocking out the three guards and guiding Yukina over to Kurama to wait.

"That explains why I couldn't find her with my Jagan Eye," Hiei continued coldly, stopping just a very short distance from the man. "But... even though _I_ am not allowed to kill you, you can't run from _death_ forever."

"Indeed, there is a grim reaper down in the arena right now," Kurama agreed, smiling pleasantly as he escorted Yukina from the room. She didn't need to see what was about to happen.

"Wait!" Tarukane yelled, backing up. "I don't know who the hell you are, but if it's money you're after, we can talk! That broad makes jewels like you wouldn't believe! I can pump millions from her!"

It was the last straw. Hiei pulled back a fist and began to lay into the man. Right, left, right, left, over and over until the ugly man's face was a mess of lumps and bruises, and so many of the bones in his body were broken. Still, he was alive. Still conscious even, so that he wasn't able to escape the pain in blissful blackness.

"It's over," Hiei declared, stepping back.

"Oh?" Kurama asked, curious as he returned to the room with Yukina now that the act of violence was complete.

"The Detective and the fool have won their fight," Hiei answered, gesturing to the arena below absently. "And I am satisfied enough with this revenge."

Then, as if to add insult to literal injury, one of the Black Black Club noticed the fight was over as well, and calculated his entire winnings from the bit of gambling these elite sleeze-balls had been indulging in, which seemed to send Tarukane over the edge.

"I believe that at this point, it would be more cruel to let the man live," Kurama observed pleasantly.

"Which is exactly what we are going to do," Harry said firmly.

Hiei nodded and further backed off.

Harry turned to Yukina. "Now, my house is a humble one, but you're welcome to share it with me. Hiei does, and Kurama lives right next door with his mother," he offered.

"She's already made up a room for you," Kurama added. "And bought you some new kimono and other things based on what Harry and Hiei were able to tell her of you."

Yukina blinked, looking between the three males in surprise, then seemed to fix on Hiei. "You seem familiar," she commented.

Hiei gasped softly, eyes wide and posture tense as he looked back at his sister. He was afraid that she would recognise him, had seriously doubted that she would as they had never before this time actually come face to face. At the same time... he hoped.

"But I'm not sure _why_," she continued, clearly frustrated by this. "Who _are_ you?"

Biting down on a smile and denying the laughter that wanted to bubble up, Harry conjured a mirror while no one was looking.

"No one," Hiei answered, looking away from her and slowly walking back to the window to look at the two beaten up human boys and Botan with them.

Harry handed the mirror to Yukina with a wink.

Yukina was confused for a moment, then remembered his comment about her eyes, and looked from the reflection of her eyes in the mirror, to Hiei. Her eyes went wide as she realised it. Before she could say anything though, Harry placed a gentle finger over her mouth and shook his head, then vanished the mirror. He removed his finger from her mouth to hover in front of his, and winked at her again. A secret. Yukina didn't know why, and her expression was confused, but she nodded her agreement all the same.

"How's the rest of the team?" Kurama asked, as he walked over to stand with Hiei, unaware of the by-play between Yukina and Harry.

"They'll live," Hiei answered.  
"Oh no! I forgot about them!" Yukina cried out softly, running for the door.

"Why didn't you tell her Hiei?" Kurama asked softly as he and Harry joined the short demon at the window. "Doesn't she deserve to know about her brother?"

"She _deserves_ to be happy," Hiei countered.

"I'd have thought they were the same thing," Kurama suggested.

Hiei just shook his head, a content smile on his face as he watched Yukina run out to check on the two human boys.

"Well, either way, she's going to be living with us for the foreseeable future," Harry commented, smiling as well and not saying a _thing_ about having silently enlightened the girl. If neither of the other two had noticed him do so, then who was he to tell them?

Hiei nodded again.


	6. Chapter 6

Less than a week after getting Yukina settled into her room and introducing her to Shiori – having explained to the pretty little ice apparition the entire cover story on the drive back to the city, from Kurama being called Shuichi to the 'lie' about Yukina being Hiei's sister – the four of them were interrupted in the middle of a cooking lesson. Hiei could do mean barbecue, and had memorised everything that went into Harry's potions from observation even if he never made them, and Yukina was fantastic with frozen treats of pretty much every variety, but Yukina wanted to be able to do more than that, so Harry was teacher while Kurama and Hiei (and sometimes Shiori) were willing taste-testers. After all, food once cooked needed to be eaten.

"Kurama, you're in charge of the kitchen while I see who's at the door," Harry instructed with a smile. Since Yukina was currently kneading bread dough, Harry was pretty confident that nothing was going to go terribly wrong without his supervision. So long as no one threw any flour around of course, which _was_ possible. Yukina was a cheeky little thing once given the space and security to let her smile grow and her feelings flourish.

Even Hiei was smiling more with her around, both of them more than happy to constantly keep up the 'façade' of being siblings separated by their family and glad to finally be together. Hiei still believed that Yukina didn't know the truth, but he'd helped Harry tell Shiori the 'cover story', so he had to stick with it. Yukina was just happy to have her brother any way she could get him, and with the 'cover story', it meant she could call him her brother anyway.

Yukina thought it was all a bit sneaky of Harry, really, but it was a _good_ sneaky, so she just smiled even more every time she thought of it.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked, curious as to why a strange woman in a very sharp looking suit would be ringing his doorbell.

"This is the residence of Potter Harry?" the woman asked, looking up from a paper on a clipboard that she held, as if double checking her facts.

Harry nodded. "I am he," he agreed, slightly suspicious. He hadn't lived to be twenty one by not being a little bit paranoid after all. Not to Mad Eye Moody proportions, but a little paranoia is good for a person, especially if people really _are_ out there looking for them. "And this is my house."

The woman smiled. "Our intelligence says that it is possible to find one Jaganshi Hiei at this address," she stated. "I have a message for him. And this for you," she added, handing over a rather fancy embossed envelope.

Harry narrowed his eyes but accepted the letter and stepped aside for her to enter and gestured for her to follow him into the kitchen.

"Oh," the woman said quietly, a smile spreading on her face. "This is most convenient, both Jaganshi Hiei and Kurama in the same place."

Harry returned to Yukina's side to see how kneading the dough was going while Kurama turned to the woman.

"How do you know who we are, and what do you want with us?" Kurama demanded coolly.

"You are both invited to be members of the Guest Team at the Dark Martial Arts Tournament," the woman answered pleasantly. "It will take place in two months time," she continued, unperturbed by the frosty reception her news was getting. She detached a piece of paper from her clipboard that turned out to be a map with a cove marked and a time and date upon it. "A ship will carry you to the island where the Tournament is being held," she said, placing the paper on the kitchen table. "I take it you both know what is involved?" she asked, still smiling. Her red-painted mouth shining like poison in Harry's well-lit, friendly kitchen.

"Teams for the Dark Tournament require _five_," Hiei stated. "Who _else_ is being invited? Or are we expected to find three other team-mates ourselves?"

"Two humans _are_ being _officially_ invited," the woman answered. "A Urameshi Yusuke and Kuwabara Kazuma," she added, consulting her clipboard. "Well," she said with a smile. "I think that's about all the business I have with you. The map with place and time are yours. It wouldn't do for you to miss the Tournament just because you couldn't find the departure point. Good day," she said, then bowed to them all and let herself out.

Harry followed her to make sure she didn't touch anything she shouldn't, and returned to the kitchen with a frown on his face.

"If we refuse to attend, not only will a mark be put out on us, but everybody we know will be killed as well, completely erasing us. The Tournament Committee call it 'incentive' for the Guest Team," Kurama explained when Harry returned, his expression stormy and silently demanding answers. "I don't know how I'm going to explain this absence to my mother," he lamented. "Death during this Tournament is a very real possibility."

"In which case, as much as I know you will not appreciate it, I recommend the _truth_ this time," Harry suggested. "That's enough kneading, Yukina-chan. Now we set it in a bowl and cover it with cling-film to rise for a couple of hours in a warm place."

"Harry," Kurama called gently. "What is that envelope in the pocket of your apron?"

"It's an envelope," Harry answered dryly, his mouth curling with humour. "Our visitor delivered it to me like a courier service. Haven't broken the seal yet," he admitted.

"It is probably best that you do," Hiei said from his place at the kitchen table.

Harry shrugged, but obliged. "It seems," he said as his eyes glided over the fancy font of the typed letter. "That I am being invited to be a VIP at the Dark Tournament. There's a pass, a room reservation with a phone number for if I want more rooms, even a flight departure time," he chuckled. "I guess the, er, _gentlemen_ from the Black Black Club decided they wanted me to join in with their hob-nobbing." Harry smiled. "A whole VIP booth to myself, full of empty chairs. I simply _must_ fill them. Yukina-chan, would you care to join me? We can ask Shiori-san along as well, and see if Botan-chan knows anybody who would want to go and cheer for Kuwabara and Yusuke. See if Botan-chan would care to join us as well for that matter."

Yukina smiled and nodded.

"And if we don't get a fifth fighter, you would be able to take that place, wouldn't you?" Hiei suggested.

"Not to mention tend our injuries between fights," Kurama added.

Harry nodded.

~oOo~

For the following two months, training was the main activity around the Potter house. Harry trained, Hiei trained, Kurama trained, even Yukina trained. She was a demon after all, even if she preferred to heal than harm. Kuwabara was brought over and trained by first Hiei and then by Kurama. Harry still returned to Genkai's temple every other weekend, just as he had ever since her tournament to find an apprentice, which meant he got to see how Urameshi's training was going.

On the quiet, he also found out that _she_ was going to be the fifth member of the Guest Team, and though she had him promise not to tell anyone that she was the fifth member, when Harry got home he was at least able to tell those waiting there for him that there _was_ one.

Between training, Harry made potions. Pepper-ups, blood-replenishers, skele-grow, burn salves, nutrient potions, poison cures, calming draughts, and many more with not a few contributions from Kurama's cauldron as well. He might have even abused his time-turner a little bit so that he could train and make potions at the same time.

Harry even made a neat little collection of protective talismans. Not generally his thing, but considering he was planning on taking some generally defenceless human women to the Dark Martial Arts Tournament, which would be mostly attended by _demons_... yeah, a little extra protection would _not_ be a bad thing for them. Botan had brought Urameshi Atsuko, Yukimura Keiko (Yusuke's mother and girlfriend respectively) and Kuwabara Shizuru (Kuwabara Kazuma's older sister) to meet Harry. After all, they would be more or less in _his_ care while on Hanging Neck Island.

When the date came, Harry took Kurama's, Hiei's and Kuwabara's bags with him on the flight so that they wouldn't have to worry about their stuff on the boat-ride over. For that matter, he took Yusuke's and Genkai's things as well, since he had a check in with the old woman just before his flight. He also escorted each Botan, Yukina, Keiko, Atsuko, Shiori and Shizuru onto the helicopter that would be taking them to the island.

It was a couple of days of ceremonies, meetings about the rules, the prize (which was pretty impressive), the final rounds and so on. They met the awful of the awfully rich, and at the end of each day they would to go back to the rooms to sit down and Harry would have to help one or other of the women process exactly what was happening, and then...

"Wow! Well it's _definitely_ better than the pirate ship."

"I'd know that voice anywhere," Shizuru commented quietly, smirking around the cigarette in her mouth as she – as well as all the other females of their party and Harry – got out of their seats and headed for the door.

They were beaten by one of the hotel staff.

"Good evening gentlemen," the man said. "The hotel has been expecting you."

"So have we," Harry announced from behind the man, smiling from the middle of the six women of his company. "How was the trip over?" he asked while Botan quietly dismissed the man who worked for the hotel once she'd taken the key to the set of rooms that had been assigned to Team Urameshi from him.

"Entertaining," Hiei answered with a smirk.

"If slightly detrimental to the demon population in Living World," Kurama answered with a serene smile that stated, rather clearly, that he could really care less about having slaughtered monsters on his way to the island. It wasn't like he'd gotten his almost completely white clothes dirty at all.

"Um, why is Yusuke...?" Keiko asked hesitantly.

"Ah, he's just sleepin'," Kuwabara answered easily, calming the girl's concern instantly.

"In that case we should put him to bed," Atsuko suggested. Spending time with a much more responsible mother than herself had really helped her to adjust to a couple of things properly at last – and without Yusuke having to _die_ again to shock her into taking proper care of him. "Sleeping like that can't be good for him, or for you either Kuwabara, carrying him like that."

"I'm good for a little while more," Kuwabara answered. "But yeah, should probably lie 'im down soon."

Hiei, wearing a fine new blue robe that was a gift from Yukina, gallantly offered her his elbow for him to escort her upstairs, a smile on his face that was completely different to the one he'd worn while he killed other demons aboard the ship. Kurama likewise extended the same gesture to his mother. Both women giggled with each other before accepting, and Harry had Keiko and Shizuru on each of his arms while Botan led the way to Team Urameshi's room and Atsuko helped Kuwabara carry her son.

Whispers followed them.

"For some reason, I thought they'd be bigger."

"This is going to be a very intriguing year."

"Did anybody know that Lord Potter and his companions were familiar with the Guest Team?"

~oOo~

Harry held the door as 'his' ladies all entered his private, VIP booth with its excellent view of the arena, as well as a mini-bar stocked with drinks (non-alcoholic ones as well as booze) and snacks such as chocolates, fresh fruits, and enough fixings to make some sandwiches if the fights lasted that long.

"I can't help but notice that the demons that are going to fight look more human than the ones in the stands watching," Keiko noted.

"Generally, though not always, the less human a demon looks, the less power it has," Botan answered. "Still," she added firmly. "They're a _lot_ stronger than a normal human, so please _don't_ go provoking them."

"Right," Keiko agreed.

The first fight of the day was between Kuwabara and a little kid called Rinku. Well, he _looked_ like a little kid. The fact was that he was a little _demon_ kid, which changed things. Still, it was an impressively even fight, even when it didn't look like it.

Like when it looked like Kazuma would be dropped to his death, which had quite a few of the women in the VIP booth in a worried frenzy until Shizuru – his own sister – pointed out that their worrying was going to make exactly _no difference_ to the outcome.

"And I can apparate down there with medical supplies, quick as you can blink," Harry added, reminding them all of _his_ position with the team that held four people that were very precious to them and one mystery fighter.

Kurama's fight was much more positive, though the threats were interesting. Harry had managed to find and talk with Koto, the referee and commentator of the fights, a few days previous, and convince her to carry the latest version of the extendible ear to come out of Weasley Wizard Wheezes. One that didn't need anything connecting between the two ends except a bit of magic, so unlike other VIPs, those in Harry's box got to hear the threats Roto – Kurama's opponent – was making against Shiori.

Threats that he couldn't possibly back up, and Kurama knew it. After all, no demon tracking his mother would be able to get past Harry up in that box. So he simply dodged wild swings with a serene smile on his face and his eyes closed, calling the much weaker demon's bluff for what it was before proceeding to execute him, brutally and without mercy.

Or perhaps, for a demon that was not at _all_ strong enough to make it far in the Dark Tournament, it _was_ a mercy killing.

It didn't make it any easier on Shiori to see her little Shuichi kill, even if the one he killed had been threatening _her_ life. Still, she had time to take it in, adjust to the idea, and to the reality of it. A sip from a vial of calming draught supplied by Harry certainly helped though. So did a large glass of good wine and the knowledge that she wouldn't have to see her son fight again that day.

Hiei fought next, and he definitely scared Yukina when he apparenty _let himself_ be hit by Zeru's intense fire attacks. Of course, Hiei was a _fire_ demon, and had a Jagan to boot, even if it had been implanted by a demonic surgeon rather than natural. Not that his right arm was looking all that good after releasing the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.

"His arm..." Yukina said quietly, a query in her hesitant tone.

"Sacrificed," Harry answered. "Let me think... burn salves, an assortment of restoratives at intervals, and the healing powers of his ice apparition twin sister," he suggested. "Of course, it will take longer to get better if he keeps playing with fire all the time, but we do what we can."

Yukina smiled and nodded in agreement.

Atsuko, meanwhile, was watching the very tall, kinda handsome drunk who had tripped his way onto the arena after killing the last two team-mates who had yet to fight and had tried to run away after seeing Zeru get turned into a pile of ash. A drunk who had Harry hearing double – the standard Japanese, and English with a... was that an _Australian_ accent? A drunk who's breath finally woke Yusuke, who had been sleeping through _all_ of the previous fights.

"Is it terrible of me that I want to maybe ask Chu out if he and Yusuke don't kill each other?" Atsuko asked quietly.

"Well, if it's true that the _only_ thing he's bad at is paper-rock-scissors, then maybe not," Shizuru offered with a chuckle.

"You might want to discuss your potential new boyfriend with your son though," Shiori counselled, though there was a slight smile on her face. One that wavered between worried and amused with every tiny twitch.

"Well, they've burned their skin, shortened their breath, and somehow lost their shirts," Koto said into her microphone a half-hour of fighting later. "Altogether, I'd call it a successful fight."

In the VIP box, they got to hear Yusuke and Chu sharing how completely burned out they were by this point, and laughing together about it.

"That's hopeful," Atsuko said. "Right?" After all that, she _did_ still like the guy as someone she could see herself with, based on what they had all learned about him during the fight. He seemed to have Yusuke's respect as well, which would help... But that _did_ still depend on _several_ things yet, and of course, the fight wasn't _over_ yet. Atsuko was asking about the outcome of the fight as much as her romantic prospects with those few words.

"Definitely _hopeful_," Shiori agreed with a supportive smile.

Keiko, on the other hand, was getting more and more frantic, wanting the fighting to stop and not understanding why they wouldn't, why they felt that they couldn't. She loved the lug, really she did, but when it came to fighting, she just didn't understand him.

"Going to need some serious repairs to that foot," Harry commented absently as Keiko screwed her eyes shut, covered her ears, and wished that Yusuke weren't so mad about fighting that he'd most likely get himself killed – again – because he's always looking for the next opponent. "And maybe something for a concussion," he added when the two fighters literally clashed heads.

It was pretty impressive actually, seeing that Chu's head cracked the cement of the arena when he fell, but not Yusuke's skull when they deliberately slammed each other. Urameshi was good about not killing his opponent after the knife-edge death match too, saying that they'd have another go at it some other time, and then telling off the whole crowd for demanding he kill Chu – their champion just a short while ago.

"That's our boys done for the day," Harry said, getting up from his seat. "So, who is staying to watch the next fight, and who will be coming back with me to the hotel?"

Shizuru and Atsuko were both interested in staying for the next fight, being the sort of women who enjoyed blood-sports, but making sure their boys were alright was first priority. Besides, the Tournament was being broadcast on a special wavelength, so they'd be able to watch the next match on the television in their rooms.

Harry paused beside one of the security demons that was in place to stop unauthorised personnel from getting hear the humans in the VIP booths. "Have Team Urameshi and what is left of Team Rokuyokai brought to my suite at the hotel _immediately_," he instructed, his eyes hard and cold as he surveyed the demon, conveying that not only was he a VIP, he was also a very _powerful_ and _dangerous_ person. "The ladies wish to meet them."

"Yes sir!" the demon answered, and rushed off to follow Harry's orders.

Then, with Shiori, Atsuko and Shizuru on his left arm, and Keiko, Botan and Yukina on his right, Harry walked back to the hotel. They met up with Team Urameshi along the way, being escorted by security demons. Harry dismissed them, saying that they would walk together.

It gave Atsuko a chance to talk to her son about possibly dating his last opponent as they walked, and Yukina immediately drew Hiei's burnt hand out of his trouser pocket and started examining – and healing – it.

"Mother?" Kurama queried as Shiori slipped her arm into his.

She smiled. "It may take me a little while to get used to the idea of you as a fighter," she said. "But I _am_ proud of you all the same. The way you moved out there..." she trailed off, amazed, impressed, _proud_ of him.

Kurama smiled shyly.

The sound of Yusuke's laughter erupted and flowed over them as they reached the hotel.

"Is that a 'yes'?" Atsuko pressed.

"Sure," the boy agreed, grinning. "Provided _he_ agrees of course."

Hotel security was waiting at the door of Harry's suite of rooms with the remains of Team Rokyokai when they got there. Harry dismissed the security as he opened the door and invited the two demons inside.

Apart from Hiei's arm, all injuries were fixed within an hour. The severely burnt appendage took _two_ hours to fix up good as new, and that was with Harry using what he knew of Genkai's spirit wave technique on the arm as well (Genkai not doing it because she was still hiding her identity, though she did come close enough to give him a whispered critique as he did it). By that time, Atsuko and Chu had agreed to date, room service had been called, and Kuwabara had fallen asleep on one of the couches.

He was only woken up before being sent to his own room to sleep properly. Every member of Team Urameshi was also given a restorative draught, even Kurama who didn't need it.

The next day, Team Urameshi joined the girls in the VIP box to watch Toguro's fight. Intimidating was _definitely_ the word for it. Then the fight match-ups were distributed by the committee.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Kuwabara objected when he saw the line-up.

"They're not," Harry assured the boy. "They want to see you fight, and fight often. It increases your likelihood of dying. By the same token, they _don't_ want Team Toguro to fight too much, because then too many teams would die, and couldn't be enticed back for the _next_ Dark Tournament," Harry explained.

"Makes sense," Yusuke agreed, though he clearly wasn't _pleased_ by it.


	7. Chapter 7

The next fight for Team Urameshi was interesting for several reasons. The first was that it had humans on it, when only the Guest Team should have had such. Then there was the absence of two of the team – on both sides, Kurama and Hiei had gone for a walk at dawn, and hadn't gotten back yet. Finally, there was that the creator of the opposing team, one 'Doctor' Ichigaki, wanted to make a deal which would see him _owning Yusuke's body_ as a sort of spoils-of-war if his team won.

Yusuke agreed.

Which rather horrified and terrified Keiko all at once.

"You're acting like my boy is going to lose," Atsuko scolded the girl. "He _won't_. It might be close, but Yusuke _doesn't_ lose."

"I hope you're right," Keiko said, quieting down. She was still obviously worried though.

Then things got even _more_ interesting when one missing member of the Ichigaki team was dropped onto the arena, a giant robot following not long after to land right at the front of the stands, and finally Hiei and Kurama making a controlled if _rapid_ descent to land on the robot's shoulders.

It was quite the impressive story the crowd got when Koto asked them where they'd been.

"A thirty-foot killing machine wanted a word with us." Very dry humour from Hiei.

As well as the full story behind the mind-controlled humans being delivered by Kurama.

The mask almost came off Genkai's face, but Harry _had_ provided her with a _magicked_ mask that _wouldn't_ come off unless she wanted it to. Kuwabara got beat up pretty bad, but Kurama still had his vial of restorative draught from the previous night when Harry was handing them around, so he'd be alright.

There was a very much deserved beat-down on the _good doctor_ after the fight was won, and the men – previous thought dead – woke up and got their tearful reunions with their master. Then the announcement came from the committee that the third round would begin immediately, with Team Urameshi fighting Team Masho.

"They're in no shape to fight!" Botan objected.

"No one leave the booth alone," Harry warned, giving Chu and Rinku significant looks – asking them to be escorts if needed.

The two male demons nodded in agreement.

"I'll be right back," Harry promised, and apparated out. He grabbed his potion bag and a few bottles of water, then apparated down to the arena where, wand out, he did a quick medical examination of each team member.

"Bruised but fine," Harry said, handing Hiei nothing more than a bottle of water. "Perfect health, your mother will be pleased," he continued, giving Kurama a smile a motioning for him to share Hiei's water. "Tapped," he declared unhappily before pulling out a restorative draught and a pepper-up potion and giving them to Genkai. "Drink the whole two vials," he ordered.

Genkai obediently popped the corks and slipped the openings under her mask and drank.

Harry checked her again and nodded in satisfaction.

"I'm fine," Yusuke cut him off, even as Harry waved his wand.

"You're a bit bruised and scraped, actually, and there's the cut on your arm," Harry countered, though the cut vanished with a different spell. "But otherwise, yes, I agree with you," he said, smiling slightly and motioning for Kurama to pass Yusuke the water bottle when he and Hiei were done. Then he moved on to Kuwabara, who was laid out on the grass even though he'd already had one restorative draught.

"Broken bones, torn muscles, concussion, _and_ exhausted," Harry informed the boy with a sigh as Koto summoned Team Masho to the arena. "Open," he ordered, holding a potion vial above the boy's mouth.

Kuwabara did as he was told, and swallowed between each potion that Harry literally poured down his throat.

"If there's one nice thing about taking potions that way, it's that they don't touch my tongue, so I can't taste 'em," Kuwabara said as he finally sat up, almost completely healed. He was fine, but he still _looked_ beat-up.

Urameshi had just made terms, or rather, agreed to the terms as given by the man who talked to fast with an Irish lilt and phrasing (who Harry personally heard in both English _and_ Japanese, much as he had Chu, so he suspected some sort of translation spell or device that either every demon had or was just spread over the stadium), when an announcement came over the speakers that the Tournament Committee would be instituting a medical examination before the next round. This was in accordance with section thirteen of the Tournament Index, as Team Urameshi had fought without rest.

Harry rose from beside Kuwabara and walked over to Koto on the fighting platform.

"Lord Potter!" Koto greeted, surprised. She hadn't noticed him arrive, clearly. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello Koto," he replied with a smile. "I'm Team Urameshi's personal medic, and I'm afraid I beat the committee to giving them a medical exam. I know the Tournament rules too after all, so when they announced that round three would begin at once, I grabbed my bag and got down here. I've given them all a check, and they're ready to fight."

"Thank you Lord Potter!" Koto said happily. "You heard it folks! Team Urameshi is fighting fit, and with Team Masho fresh from their rooms I'd say both teams are ready to fight. So let's get this show on the road!"

The large Irish red-head, Jin, was sitting back against the wall, watching Team Urameshi speculatively, while another member of his team stepped up to do first battle. Kurama likewise stepped forward to oppose him.

The battle plan was to last as long as possible, survive as many opponents as possible. Kurama's preference towards gauging an opponent's weakness was _not_ suited to this sort of battle. It took too long, and he needed that energy to survive the next opponent. Against the first of the shinobi from Team Masho – a demon named Gama who used paint to enhance his power and bind the powers of his opponents – Kurama made exactly that mistake. He took too long, and so he was painted with shackles that weighed his limbs down. Gama would not simply accept defeat though, even when Kurama bested him despite this, and splashed his paint across the red-head's body, binding Kurama's energy within him as his dying act.

Then Touya, an ice master, stepped up. For those who knew Hiei well enough, it was clear that _he_ wanted this fight. He'd fought Seiryuu the Blue Dragon, the 'ice master' of the Saint Beasts, and he wanted _this_ fight as well. However, Kurama was unable to leave the ring and per the terms agreed upon, it _was_ succession fighting until 'out' was given, whether by tagging out, in which case they would be able to tag back in later, or by knock-out, which they would _not_.

Kurama could _not_ tag out right now, and he was still upright and conscious. No such luck with either option.

All the same, Harry stayed down by the arena rather than returning to the VIP booth. He was needed more here, after all. As well as that, he was interested to hear why the warriors of secrets within shadows were doing exposing themselves this way. Kurama asked the question to stall for time, but Harry was _very_ interested in the answer.

They wanted to step into the light. They wanted the island as their prize for winning.

Harry smiled to himself. "That's interesting," he mused to himself, fingering his wand in warning to Hiei to let Kurama handle it for now. "That's very interesting."

Touya's long-distance attacks, many razor-sharp little blades of ice that went flying through the air, were _not_ an easy thing for Kurama to dodge, even when Gama's spell holding his limbs down had finally worn off. He still couldn't access his energy. It saw him getting rather cut up, and getting laid out.

He could have gotten up. If he'd had access to his energy, then he would have. If Harry hadn't been there to be their medic, then he'd have gotten up even _with_ his energy sealed. He stayed down, and listened to Koto take the ten count, and breathed a sigh of relief when Harry carried him off the arena floor and Hiei stepped up for the next fight.

"Can I ask you to leave this one alive?" Harry asked softly.

"Why should I?" Hiei asked lowly.

Harry smiled, just a little one, but a smile all the same. "Wouldn't it be good for Yukina-chan to be able to talk to another ice apparition? Perhaps he could teach her a few tricks in case another like Tarukane ever comes after her," he suggested. "Besides, I don't think Kurama has finished questioning him yet."

"Hmph," Hiei answered. It wasn't a 'yes', but it wasn't a 'no' either.

No matter. Provided Touya wasn't completely dismembered, Harry would be able to fix him up after the fight, and he had no doubts that Hiei would win. Of course, it would be _much_ closer than the fight between himself and Seiryuu, and not just because this time his opponent was the same height.

Hiei drew his sword.

"You know he could have gotten up again if he wanted to," Hiei informed Touya calmly. "All that has happened is that you have shown off your powers too soon." Then he flexed _his_ energy, just as Touya had before, only instead of the arena's temperature falling, it rose.

Touya clenched his teeth and gathered a sword of ice around his right hand and forearm.

"Begin!" called Koto.

They charged each other.

The fight was fierce at such a close range, with both demons being so fast. Koto had a hard time keeping up her commentary, they were moving so fast. Luckily for her, they were both also very precise, so she never had to worry about dodging their blows.

"I think they're having fun," Kurama quipped as Harry healed his cuts, and both of them started on puzzling a way out of breaking Gama's work, freeing Kurama's energy from where it was trapped inside of him. "What did you say to him?" Kurama asked Harry. "I didn't hear you properly."

"Oh, just something about introducing Yukina-chan to Touya-san after the fight," Harry answered with a smile.

"What?!" Kuwabara objected. "But –!"

"Makes sense," Yusuke put in, getting in on the teasing. "After all, they're both ice apparitions."

Kuwabara sagged, pouting where he stood.

All motion on the arena halted, Touya and Hiei finally still enough to be seen. They each had their sword at the neck of their opponent. It looked like a stalemate. Then Hiei smirked.

"Perhaps he's right, and I should introduce you to my sister. You're too good for me to want to kill anyway," Hiei said. Then he abruptly reversed his sword and struck Touya's temple with the hilt, knocking him out, catching him, and dragging him over to the side of the arena.

Harry was waiting for him with a smile.

"_Don't_ get _cocky_, Harry," Hiei ordered sternly.

"Who, me? Never," Harry promised as he caught the concussed ice master.

"Excuse me, but what about my ten-count?" Koto asked pointedly.

"I hit him hard enough that it will take him a few minutes at best to wake up," Hiei answered as he hopped down from the arena. "Unless our _healer_ helps him, of course," he added.

"Right," Koto allowed. "Winner, Hiei of Team Urameshi!"

The largest member of Team Masho stepped up then.

"Uh, Urameshi, you _are_ gonna take the big guy, right?" Kuwabara asked nervously, intimidated by the guy's physical presence.

"Sure, sure," Yusuke agreed, a slight sneer on his face as he jumped up onto the arena.

The big guy's name was Bakken, and he was pathetic. His big thing was being able to hide in a mist made by his own sweat, so that his opponents couldn't block his punches.

Punches which Yusuke laughed off as soft before he blasted the mist away. He then caught his opponent, proceeded to break every bone in Bakken's body, and then threw him right through the wall surrounding the arena.

Just a few feet left of Jin, actually, who whistled and showed a pleased smile before hopping up himself and heading for the arena once Koto had finished her ten-count.

The two of them had a good chuckle with each other before the fight began, and thanks to the the magic of the extendible ears, Harry could hear their quiet conversation. He had to bite his lip from joining in the laughing as well.

"I'm talkin' about the way you knocked away Bakken's fog an' then took 'im for a first class ride on yer fists, ya know! I never did like that guy, the wind around his pores was pretty stinky. Actually, I'm kinda glad you waxed 'im. Oh! Don't tell Risho I told ya that!"

There was something else that Harry could really appreciate about Jin as well though – apart from his humour and accent – and that was a love for flying. Harry couldn't help but wonder who would be faster in the sky: himself on his broomstick, or Jin. Heck, he wondered if Jin could teach him how to fly _without_ the broom. That would be fun.

From Harry's right, two soft chuckles sounded, distracting him from the red-head – and that he had just stopped zooming around the stadium to dodge a kick from Yusuke and punch him in the face.

"You should wipe the _drool_ off your chin," Hiei advised, an amused smirk on his face as he arched an eyebrow at the wizard.

Harry, grown man though he was, blushed as he ducked his head – and wiped his chin with his sleeve, just in case he actually _was_ drooling. On top of all that, Jin was another of those like himself and Yusuke who found their ways to victory more often _despite_ 'help and instruction' than _thanks_ to it.

The fight was _magnificent_. From Jin's tornado fist to Yusuke's extremely fast punching with Jin blocking while he was on the ground. Got in a good one too, but it just made Jin retreat upwards for safety. The look on his face when Yusuke made a shot from his spirit gun was pretty good though, even if he _did_ manage to recover just in time.

"Did we get that on video?" Koto asked into the microphone. "_Please_ tell me we _got that on video_!"

Harry agreed with the sentiment. It was a moment worth re-living. He was pretty sure everybody in his VIP box was getting a bit tense though. Well, maybe not Chu and Rinku, but it was possible they were too. Especially when the Detective fired his spirit gun point blank into Jin's tornado fist.

"I thought _I_ was crazy Urameshi, but _you_ take the prize!" Jin yelled down from where he'd been thrown by the blast up in the air. His voice was a somewhat higher pitch as well. Very much tense and put-off. "The hell was that?! You don't make bombs go 'boom' in yer face!"

"Apparently he does," Harry quipped, mostly to himself as he said it lowly and in English rather than the standard Japanese that most beings present would understand, but under the pretence of answering the demon. "It's not a bad tactic, provided you can survive of course."

Then they both went and pulled out something extra. Jin – a tornado on _both_ fists. Yusuke – Genkai's spirit wave, which he hadn't _actually_ finished learning from the old woman. Officially anyway.

Unofficially, Urameshi sent Jin into the stands so hard the demon couldn't even use his wind powers to cushion his fall in time. Jin managed to stand up before Koto reached the 'ten' of her ten-count, but he fell right back down again.

The sponsor for Team Masho didn't like that very much. His team was down to just one fighter, while Team Urameshi still had two who hadn't fought, and one who'd tagged out rather than been defeated... as well as Kurama who _had_ been officially defeated and Urameshi Yusuke himself.

Urameshi Yusuke who he could – and did – get disqualified on a technicality, making the fight with Jin a double knock-out.

It might have only brought the tally up four-two, but it was better than four-one.

While the unpleasant man was getting that ruling made, however, Harry was staring rather fixedly at where Jin was lying, out cold, in the stands.

"Oh, for goodness sake," Hiei said, watching him.

"Go and be a rich man," Kurama added with a chuckle. "Ask him to be your boy-toy."

Harry's face heated up as he turned sharply to them. The two demons just chuckled quietly at him, giving him knowing looks until he _did_ apparate up into the stands and collect the wind master before returning back to the arena with him.

Damn them. It wasn't _like that_!

Kuwabara, of all people, volunteered to fight the last guy. Which was kind of like handing over a win, really, but they had room to allow it right now, so nobody stopped him. Likewise, the kid had a 'never quit' attitude that could, potentially, see him winning, but it was an outside shot and the battle didn't completely depend on him. See how it went. Harry and his medical supplies _were_ on hand after all.

Harry who was laying Jin out next to Touya on the grass and waving his wand over the handsome, shirtless demon.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Urameshi asked, while keeping one eye on the fight.

Harry smiled. "You'd have had to kill him for him to _not_ recover," he answered. "Demons are tough that way. Of course, dismemberment is generally fairly permanent unless there's medical intervention," he added thoughtfully.

As he had with Touya, Harry forced a couple of potions down Jin's throat by use of magic rather than making the guy wake up to swallow. While Touya had gotten a potion to help with the concussion and a dreamless sleep potion so he wouldn't wake up in the middle of a fight, Jin was given a series of potions to repair organ damage (a different potion for each damaged organ), fractured (but not broken) bones, a blood-replenishing potion, and a dreamless sleep so that _he_ didn't wake up too soon either. Sleep was an important part of healing, and Jin was _definitely_ an active sort of person. Probably hated bed-rest as much as Harry had when he was at Hogwarts – even if that time _had_ been useful for studying things without his peers and minders finding out about it.

Satisfied with his sleeping beauties – which they were, even if they weren't the traditional kind – Harry finally turned to the fight. He couldn't really help the face he pulled when he finally saw Risho without the big cape thing on. The guy looked like _Snape_. Okay, the man had kind of redeemed himself a little just before he croaked, but the late potion-master had been deeply unpleasant and happy that way for a very, _very_ long time. It still wasn't helping Risho's case as far as Harry was concerned. Neither was his arrogance.

It wasn't the fun kind like Jin's (the "I'm good, you're good, let's see who's better" kind), or even the assured kind like Touya's (the "You're good, but I've seen nothing that says you're better than me, _yet_" kind). No, this was smug, self-satisfied, self_-important_ arrogance of the worst flavour. The "I am the best there ever was or will be and you will never amount to anything more than worthless filth" kind.

Just like Snape.

Redeemed or not, Harry hadn't cried for the man when he died, nor at his funeral where his 'goodness' was highlighted and his less shining deeds pushed back into the shadows to be 'forgotten as passed'.

He wouldn't lift a finger to heal this Risho either, if he survived the three fights he would have to win in order to advance to the next round. Which he didn't.

Kuwabara wasn't in great shape when he was sent through a wall, but Hiei tagged back in after the ten-count and finished the job that Kuwabara had made a surprisingly good start on.

Harry had the kid fixed right up and all the invalids incapable of walking floated before him as he carried them out of the arena (the fights were done for the day after all) and back to the hotel.

Chu, Rinku and the ladies met up with them not far from the stadium, and they generally shared opinions on the fights as seen and experienced as they walked – with the women fussing over their men just a little bit, but that didn't last long. Harry was a pretty good medic when he needed to be after all.

Besides, there was only the semi-finals before the much anticipated – if somewhat dreaded – face off with Team Toguro. They'd have a couple of days of no fights of their own until then. Which meant they had some time to do a little bit of celebrating.

And laugh at Yusuke's spirit beast, which really didn't look like it suited him at all. After introducing Koenma to everybody who hadn't met him yet (he stayed in his own, _private_ VIP booth) and the initial shock of laughter, the women took over cooing at the bird while the guys teased Urameshi about the little blue fuzz-ball, each in their own way of course.

"He kinda looks like a phoenix," Harry said at last, breaking the trend and getting everybody's attention. "Much bigger ears, which it looks like he's using like wings until his little dumpy ones develop properly I'd guess, but still..."

"A phoenix?" Kurama questioned.

"Fire birds," Hiei clarified. "I'd have said it was too blue for that."

"I thought phoenixes were supposed to be _majestic_ birds," Botan added. "This little thing is about as far from majestic as it's possible to get."

Harry shook his head. "Granted, the only other phoenix I have personal experience with was a sort of orange-red-gold mix, but I _did_ get to see him once just after a burning day. He was small and featherless and looked a _lot_ like this guy, if about a fifth the size."

"And then of course there's the bit about phoenixes _not dying_," Atsuko commented, leaving the huddle of women around the bird to gently wrap her arms around her son. "Which sure makes _me_ feel a whole lot better."


	8. Chapter 8

Jin blinked against the bright light as he woke to unfamiliar surroundings. A groan from his left had him turning his head and seeing the only one of his team-mates that he actually _liked_ – he got along alright with Risho and Gama if he had to, but _really_ didn't like Bakken, and at least two of those three were dead. Not sure about Risho, his fight had been _after_ he'd blacked out after all.

"Oh, you're both awake at last," a pleasant female voice said from a few metres away from the foot of their beds.

Jin and Touya both looked down the length of their own bodies to see a girl with blue-green hair and red eyes standing in a doorway.

Turning in a doorway and calling.

"Harry-sensei, they're awake!" the girl called happily.

"That _is_ good news," a deeper, masculine voice answered, and the owner of that voice followed after into the room. "Good afternoon," he greeted them with a smile that reached his sparkling emerald eyes. "I'd actually expected at least Touya-san to have woken up much sooner. I was starting to worry," he commented, and withdrew a slim stick of wood from his sleeve. He waved it about a little bit, a look of concentration causing his smile to disappear for a moment before it bloomed again, wider than before. "But it looks like you're both one-hundred percent healthy again. I'm glad. It means you won't need to be tied to those beds to make sure you get enough rest."

"I remember you," Touya said. "You're that 'Lord Potter' who declared Team Urameshi all fit for battle before our match."

Harry nodded. "That's right," he agreed. "And this lovely young lady is Yukina-chan, Hiei-san's twin sister and an ice apparition."

Touya's eyes, narrow as they naturally were, became a little bit wider. "He said something about introducing me to his sister, just before he knocked me out," he said quietly.

"I did," another voice agreed. It was Hiei. He and Kurama were both standing in the doorway that had been vacated when Harry and Yukina both stepped further into the room.

"We heard Yukina-chan say that you'd woken up," Kurama said. "We've called room-service for food. I'm sure you're hungry."

Jin and Touya both nodded.

"What happened? The fights?" Touya asked, looking from their hosts who had apparently cared for their injuries to Jin and back.

"I regret to inform that you are the last surviving members of your shinobi sect," Kurama informed them gravely. "Unless you had a sixth, reserve fighter?"

Jin and Touya both shook their heads.

"The sixth member of our sect died in search of a suitable apprentice just before we were approached to take part in this Tournament," Touya answered. "Another part of the reason that we wanted to leave that behind, escape the shadows and have some light in our lives at last."

"Yes, the whole island for yourselves," Harry said, humming as he brought a hand up to his chin in thought, eyes raised to the ceiling.

"It's been suggested," Hiei said, looking at Touya, "that Yukina could use some instruction in how to use her powers offensively."

"Hiei!" Yukina yelped, surprised. It was the first _she_ was hearing of this after all.

"You have been kidnapped by greedy thugs _once_," he pointed out. "And put behind talismans that prevent my Jagan Eye from finding you. The only thing stopping that from happening again is the number of protections around you now, and you couldn't possibly be happy being cooped up for your own protection forever."

Yukina bowed her head and nodded. "This is true," she admitted. "It's part of why I left the floating mountain in the first place."

"And..." Touya started, figuring out what wasn't being explicitly stated. "You want _me_ to be that teacher?" he guessed.

Hiei nodded. "Believe me when I say that I have fought a _lot_ of ice apparitions," he stated. "Of them all, you are the best."

Touya smiled slightly at the compliment, then frowned. "But that would just be back to Demon World; all shadows again."

Yukina's laugh broke the gloom that had seemed to literally gather around the shorter shinobi.

"They live with me," Harry supplied, explaining the girl's laughter. "It's just a small house in a big city, not like having your own island or anything, but I'm hardly going to restrict your movements," he offered.

"I don't suppose you got room for me too in this 'small house' of yours?" Jin asked hopefully, emphasising the words 'small house', like he believed that Harry was like all the other rich people he'd ever dealt with had had a warped sense of 'big' and 'small' as it applied to property.

"Jin-san," Kurama cut in. "When Harry-sensei says it's a small house, he means it. There are several others on the same street built on almost identical floor-plans. Harry doesn't own a mansion, or have servants and large grounds, or any of those things. There are a total of four bedrooms, three of which are already occupied by Hiei, Yukina-chan, and Harry himself. It might be possible to fit you and Touya-san both into the same room, but you would probably find it a bit crowded," the red-head explained.

"To say nothing of the fact that you can't stand how cold I like the space around me to be when I'm sleeping," Touya added, his tone apologetic, as he'd already secured a place in this small house as Yukina's teacher.

Jin's shoulders drooped a little, and his ears lost the points that they'd had when he'd gotten excited about his fight with Urameshi. Even Harry winced a little. He hadn't really thought about accommodations in his little house when he said he wouldn't mind both of the shinobi moving in with him.

Harry lay a hand on the demon's shoulder. "I'll think of something," he promised, and didn't notice the way Hiei and Kurama shared a glance and an almost invisible smirk behind him, and Yukina hid a tiny smile behind her hand.

Touya did though, and wondered what they were up to.

"Perhaps you'll think better in the open air," Hiei suggested.

"Yes," Yukina agreed. "You've been cooped up a lot lately, either here or in your box at the stadium, and always with lots of people around you. You must have a lot on your mind to have forgotten the number of bedrooms in your own house."

"Perhaps you should take out that gift from your godfather?" Kurama suggested. "You take it just about everywhere with you after all, so I assume you brought it this time. When was the last time you actually _used_ it?"

It was practically the last nail in the coffin for Harry as his green eyes went glassy and distant. "Too long," he admitted softly. "Much, _much_ too long," he added in English, closing his eyes as if this realisation pained him. It... kind of did. To be reminded of how long it had been since he'd gone flying. Flying, his first love. The memory of his first flight had fuelled his best patronus in the practices with Remus back in his third year, back before he'd really gotten the hang of the spell and could create a strong, corporeal patronus with even the faintest of happy memories.

Harry turned and left the room.

Kurama, Hiei and Yukina hustled Touya and Jin out of bed to peek through the door and watch the man as he reached into a bag, pulled out a case that was _larger than the bag it had come from_, and then reverently lifted a broomstick from the case. He stroked the handle a moment, then marched himself over to a large window, which he opened.

Broom in one hand, Harry stood on the edge of the window and fell forward.

Jin and Touya rushed through the door, afraid for the human who had helped them, and looked out the window. Jin was just about out of it himself to dive after the man and try and catch him before he went _splat_ on the rocks below. Except that Harry was shooting _upwards_ past the window, pressed to the broom as he corkscrewed tightly, eyes focused on only the sky as he flew.

"He's a _human..._ and he's _flying..._ with a _broomstick..._" Touya said as he stared out the window.

"He's complicated," Kurama answered with a sigh.

Jin, however, was grinning. "He's got style!" he declared, and leapt out the window to join the man in flying around.

"So, what were the secret smirks and smiles about?" Touya asked, crossing his arms and rounding on the other three still in the room.

"You were unfortunately unconscious for the Detective's fight with Jin-san," Kurama started.

"Jin-san started by rocketing up into the air, then doing a circuit of the stadium," Yukina continued.

"And _Harry_," Hiei said, "was practically drooling at this display."

Touya smirked as their story continued, and the smirk grew as the 'plan' they had concocted was unfolded before him. He recommended against too many physical set-ups, as Jin would likely not go along with them. He _was_ able to confirm that their plan _could_ work though, potentially. Jin, he was fairly sure, would go for it. He wasn't sure about Lord Potter, but was more than willing enough to believe the opinions of those who knew the human better than he did.

~oOo~

The next day, the day before the first fight of the semi-finals between Team Urameshi and Team Uraotogi was to take place, Genkai took off her mask. Revealing herself to the team that she was part of and the cheering squad that supported them from the VIP box at last. A short and slightly brutal conversation later (where among other things she explained why the mask in the first place), and she was dragging the Detective out to complete his training at last. By his ear, even, with Urameshi's spirit beast (named Puu by Keiko for the sound it made) flying after them as well as he could.

Five hours later, when everybody else had left Harry and Jin in the suite discussing their very first time flying (the rest of them were having a bit of a party, playing cards and such, in the team's suite rather than in Harry's, not that they'd told Harry and Jin that) Genkai returned.

Alone, and she was _very_ much weaker than she had been that morning when she'd dragged Urameshi away for his training. Not that she _looked_ it, but both Harry and Jin could feel the difference in her energy levels. Still strong, but nowhere _near_ as strong as she had been just those five hours ago.

"I'm afraid I couldn't carry the dimwit back here," she said to Harry. "He's in a cave, about two miles South of here... and in bad shape, the mule-headed dimwit."

Harry sighed, got up from his seat, and grabbed his broomstick. "I'll be back with the boy soon," he promised before he dove out the window on his broom. He was too. He reappeared with a _pop_ that sounded more like a _snap_ in the room, his broom in one hand, and Yusuke asleep – or more accurately, _unconscious_ – in Harry's arms, with a badly-battered Puu also passed out on the boy's stomach.

Jin took Harry's broom from the man so that Harry could more easily set the boy down on the couch.

"Apart from being slightly confused because I'm pretty sure Keiko-chan took Puu with her when she left, so I don't know how the little guy got to be with Urameshi-kun, but anyway... I don't think he'll be fighting tomorrow," Harry informed Genkai dispassionately as he waved his wand over the boy.

"We can deal with Team Uraotogi without him," Genkai dismissed. "If he wants to survive facing Toguro then he was going to need my spirit orb. That was today's training."

Harry nodded absently, taking in the information without question for now. Jin had the asking what that _was_, exactly, covered well enough anyway. Energy of the spirit and the body concentrated into the smallest space possible. Potent stuff, especially the way Genkai described it.

"It certainly explains all the bruises, cuts and blood-loss," Harry commented as he used magic to heal all the outside stuff and make the unconscious boy swallow potions. "Not to mention all the internal stuff," he added as he finished. "How'd you _make_ the damn thing in the first place?" he asked as he got up from the floor where he'd been working from, as Urameshi was on the couch and turned to take his own seat again next to Jin. "You said something about combining spiritual and physical energy?"

"Yes," Genkai agreed, and with both Harry _and_ Jin curious enough about whatever had managed to lay Urameshi out so thoroughly to listen to technical jargon (Harry was always willing to learn, she knew from experience, Jin was a surprising but not entirely unwelcome addition), she explained all the theory, the many attempts and mistakes along the way, even how creating the spirit wave – her most famous technique – was actually just a side-effect of trying to make the spirit orb.

"I'm a bit surprised, really," Genkai said once she'd finished explaining it all and answering their – very good – questions. "That you didn't just shoo me out once you'd fixed up the slacker. After all, it looks like everybody else has cleared out to give you two some 'private time', and rather than not-so-subtly asking me to leave so you can make kissy-faces at each other, you quiz me on my techniques."

Harry and Jin blinked, stunned by this declaration from the old woman.

Harry recovered first.

"Now, I _know_ Kurama and Hiei were teasing me about 'acting like a rich person and getting a boy-toy' during the fight when I was admiring Jin's aerial manoeuvres, but where are _you_ getting that idea from?" he asked, his tone genuinely confused.

Jin could have almost gotten whiplash he turned to look at Harry so fast when he said that, his wide blue eyes blinking in even further shock. This was news to _him_ after all.

"Oh, my mistake," Genkai said. "When I was told you were, and I quote: trying to figure out how to get Jin to move in with you, end quote, I thought it was along the lines of _wooing_ or something," she explained with a slightly amused smirk.

"No," Jin said, his mind and mouth beginning to both catch up with the conversation. "I'd be thrilled to move in with Harry. The trouble is space."

"I've got four bedrooms. Hiei's got one, Yukina-chan another, Touya-san's going to take the third spare room, and the master bedroom is mine. Hiei's twitchy about his personal space even at the best of times, Yukina-chan is female, and Touya-san likes his room _cold_," Harry explained.

"Which is a bit of a problem when I don't like shirts much," Jin added.

"I'm trying to figure out if I should build on a new room, which even with magic _will_ take a while, or see if I can clear out one of the other rooms in my house. There's the kitchen – no good," Harry said, lifting a hand to count off options. "The potion lab, and no, I will _not_ make potions in the same part of my house as I make the food I eat, so that's not an option either. Both the up-stairs and down-stairs bathrooms and the laundry are as out as the other two for _obvious_ reasons. We could roll out a futon in the living room but it would hardly be homey, and my home-office would be even less welcoming, and the garden shed _is_ full of gardening equipment, not that I'd ever actually put a person in the _garden shed_," Harry said, sighing with forlorn frustration as he dropped his chin into his hands.

"Sounds to me like adding a new room is going to be your best bet," Genkai said.

"Provided I get approval from my local council to build, which I'm fairly sure I would, but which still leaves the question of where Jin stays until it's finished," Harry pointed out. "Which could be a _long_ while. I'm not exactly a builder, even with magic. Fix-it man, yeah, alright, but not a _builder_."

"We'll think of something," Jin assured Harry with a gentle smile and an arm around his shoulders.

"You two can't share a room?" Genkai asked, having just noticed that Harry hadn't given any reason against the idea when the young man listed who Jin _couldn't_ share a room with in his house and why.

The two seemed to freeze up exactly as they were, which was interesting considering the somewhat-embrace they had going on.

Genkai smirked. "More than half your friends are jeering you should 'get a room' when they're fairly sure you aren't listening already anyway," she prodded, then stood from her seat. "I'll leave you two alone to figure it out for yourselves," she said, and showed herself out.

"How old are ya, Harry?" Jin asked quietly, gently pulling his arm away from where it had been around Harry's back.

"Twenty-one, coming up on twenty-two," he answered. "Why?"

"Because if I'm goin' ta get involved with a human, I want there to be a _lot_ of time f'r snugglin'," Jin answered, swinging himself around where he sat so that his head was suddenly in Harry's lap, a shy smile on his face. It looked kind of out of place – not Jin's head in his lap, though that _was_ a bit startling. Jin just didn't seem the type to do _shy_ though, so a _shy smile_ didn't quite look right on the demon's face.

All the same, Harry smiled back in just the same way. "Well, I think I can promise that," he answered, thinking of when he'd become the 'Master of Death' back in his teen-aged years, when all three of the Deathly Hallows had recognised _him_ as their master. Since meeting Koenma, he'd been able to discuss that title with someone who knew more of the details. No indeed, Harry would be around for a _long_ time unless something or someone actually conspired to kill him. Koenma even theorised that it was possible that Harry could even stop ageing. No one would be able to tell that for sure for a few years yet though.

"So do we tell everyone straight up and suffer through 'whirl-wind romance' jokes, or let them stew?" Harry asked with a smirk.

Jin grinned in answer.


	9. Chapter 9

"I thought we would be having a _good_ fight," Shishiwakamaru commented. "Where is your team's leader?"

"He said you weren't worth the time," Kuwabara answered, acting cocky as he deliberately _didn't_ think about the still sleeping Yusuke back in the team's suite at the hotel with Keiko and Puu watching over him.

Keiko had volunteered, and was steadfast in her decision despite the teasing she got for it from all angles. She didn't really _want_ to watch the fights after all. She was just there because she felt the _need_ to be there for Yusuke. Not like Atsuko who'd gone to pretty much _every _fight during the Tournament, usually with Chu at least for company, and sometimes sitting in the stands surrounded by demons rather than up in the VIP box like she was for Team Urameshi's fights.

"It is now time to choose the conditions for your fight," Juri – the new referee for the semi-finals – announced professionally. Harry had managed to sweet-talk her into carrying a listening device too, so again, in the new VIP box in the new stadium that looked a bit like something out of a high-budget B-movie, the occupants could hear more of what was going on in the arena than even the demons with front row seats were able to.

"It doesn't matter," Hiei said with a casual shrug. "Let's just see who lives."

"You're a hasty one, aren't you?" said the large blonde of the other team. "I take it you're fighting first."

"That's right," Hiei agreed. "First, last, and _only_. I've been under too much stress lately," he continued, clenching into a fist the hand that he had sacrificed to the dragon of the darkness flame back in the first fight. Actually, it was perfectly fine. Harry's magic and Yukina's healing abilities had seen to that. They'd seen to his healing every single time he had come back from training with the darkness flame since then too. The enemy didn't need to know that though. "Killing you all should be a good remedy," he finished with a smirk and a cruel look in his dark red eyes.

"We're all anxious to fight, Hiei," Shishiwakamaru said softly, then he reached into his haori and pulled out two dice. "Why don't we let an outside party decide the pairings?" he suggested, even as his energy burned those names onto the blank yellow cubes he was holding up. "Each six-sided die represents a team, with one member's name on each side. The sixth side is a free space, and anyone can fight when it comes up. You must fight as many times as your name appears, as long as you're still alive."

"Doesn't bother me," Hiei agreed with a small smile. "But one thing: whenever it's the name of our absent team captain, then _I_ will be fighting in his place."

"Alright!" Jury declared into the microphone. "Matches will be determined by rolling of dice! Multiple turns _are_ allowed, and as always in the semi-finals, five wins will advance."

"Fate makes her choice," called Shishiwakamaru as he threw the dice.

The first match-up was Hiei, the shortest of Team Urameshi, against Makintaro, the largest of Team Uraotogi. It was over in less than a minute, most of that minute being Hiei walking away between chopping off his opponent's arm, and said opponent charging him before Hiei was perched on his shoulders and sliding his sword into Makintaro's skull like it was made of nothing more substantial than cake. Hiei stayed in the arena to fight Kuromomotaro, the next largest of the team after the now dead Makintaro.

It was quite the quiet conversation Onji and Kuromomotaru shared as Hiei reclaimed his sword – cleaning it on the hair of his dead victim before tossing the corpse off the fighting stage.

"Are we getting on with this or not?" he asked, looking back at them again. He really didn't have to listen in to know what they were most likely discussing. Any fool would want to know if he was capable of using the darkness flame again yet. He could. He could have used it in _every_ fight if he'd wanted to, thanks to the excellent healing he'd received. He just chose _not_ to.

"I wouldn't let your last victory go to your head, little man," Kuromomotaro suggested as he stepped up at last. "He may have been the biggest of our team, but he was also the weakest."

"Strength doesn't much matter against having your head chopped off," Hiei pointed out.

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Begin!" Juri instructed firmly, stepping back out of the way of the two fighters.

This fight, as per Koto's request from the commentary box, was longer than the first. It ended as the first had, with Hiei's sword removing Kuromomotaro's head. Okay, so he called the darkness flame to his sword – much like Kuwabara's spirit sword – to do the job, but it was the same result.

Then Kurama was next against Ura, the 'fisherman' of the team.

For the spectators, it wasn't much of a fight. They clashed whips for a while, a forcefield was revealed, and then Ura opened a box that filled the arena with smoke. Smoke that he promised would cause all but himself – as the possessor of the box – to regress.

"My Shuichi!" Shiroi cried softly, fearful for her child. After all, if he was smaller, then he would be weaker, just as Ura bragged. If he was weaker, then he could well be killed. Her fear spread to the others, even the men-types weren't immune to worrying for the kid.

Harry frowned and rose from his seat, hands on the ledge that was meant for drinks as he leant forward to try and see better from the vantage point.

"Harry-san, why don't you go down?" Yukina asked gently. "You would be able to see better, surely? And... you could make sure that Hiei isn't too badly hurt for me?" she suggested.

Harry turned and smiled a little at her. "No medical aid _during_ a battle. Between is alright, expected even, but not if he might yet be called up for another fight against this team. Unfortunately," he answered, then looked back to the arena. "I might go down though, yes. I have a feeling... He should breathe deeply, rather than try holding his breath."

"What?!" Shiori cried, shocked.

Harry smiled a little as the listening device Juri was carrying brought the sound of a new voice to the VIP box, rather than the voice of Ura as he bragged of Kurama's power diminishing, his confusion as it vanished, and then his _fear_ as a power-surge of unfamiliar energy swept the arena around him.

"I think, perhaps, that I've regressed further than you intended." The voice was like Kurama's, very like it, but a bit lower, with a hint of a growl behind every word. "And just as I had come to accept my human captivity. 'Yoko has returned' they cry!"

"Yoko?" echoed not only Ura, but just about every person in the VIP box with Harry.

"Did you say Yoko? Yoko the spirit fox? 'Yoko the legendary bandit' Yoko?" Ura cried, his voice getting higher pitched as he became more and more frightened. "What did you do with Kurama? I liked him a lot better!"

Such a shame all that smoke from his magic box hid the view. But being able to hear what was going on inside was better than nothing.

"Oh, he's here," that deep voice promised. "He's me," and that was all the confirmation Shiori needed to relax back into her chair, no longer fearing that her son would be killed while only small by this demon. "Only now you've brought me out in full. Thank you for that."

"But the stories all say you're dead. You were caught! You were killed!" Ura objected.

"Yes," Kurama allowed. "I'm so flattered you've heard of me, but as you see the stories were incorrect."

Looking down at the rest of Team Urameshi, Harry noticed Hiei's expression. It was pleased, darkly and deliciously delighted. He popped down, literally, just for long enough to look Hiei in the eye, smirk at the lust he saw there, slip a pepper-up into the demon's hand, and get a _proper_ feel for that energy signature that was Kurama in his purest form, then he popped back into the booth.

"Well?" Yukina and Shiori both asked immediately.

"I am very sorry to tell you this," he said solemnly to them both. "But it appears there will be no children for you to spoil. Not if Hiei has his way with Kurama anyway," he added with a smile before he returned to his seat next to Jin.

Both ladies blushed. Yukina recovered first.

"A-actually..." she said. "A fox-spirit can choose to create a child whenever they like, given the appropriate materials to work with. They're natural shape-shifters, capable of being male _or_ female... Though I don't know what merging with a human will do with that... and Hiei-nii-san is a bit of a special case himself, considering."

The demons who knew about the ice apparitions Yukina and Hiei hailed from blinked as they considered _that_, while the human women tried to wrap their heads around Kurama changing his sex at will, since they had no real idea about the ice apparitions Hiei was born from. Botan had it twice as hard, needing to compute _both_ of those.

Harry just grinned. "Goody," he said.

While they'd talked, below, Yoko was getting information from Ura, only for the beast to be interrupted by a sword from Shishiwakamaru, breaking the forcefield and releasing the smoke from the box to disperse. With the atmosphere cleared up, Hiei wasn't the only one looking at their boy Kurama with the glint of lust in their eyes. Fox spirits just had that kind of effect.

Three to zero, Team Urameshi was winning in this semi-final when Shishiwakamaru stepped up to retrieve his sword and throw the dice a fourth time – the result of that was that Shishiwakamaru would fight, and against whoever Team Urameshi chose to go against him.

As they were three fights up, and Kuwabara wanted to beat in the face of the pretty-boy demon who not only had hordes of female fans in the stands, but who had also deliberately insulted him – pointing at Kuwabara and suggesting that he fight the one "with the inferior face" because he must be "bored as a side-show freak" he wasn't stopped. He wasn't long in the ring either, vanished away but Shishiwakamaru's cape of no return.

Shizuru looked pointedly at Harry. "Can you find him?" she demanded.

Harry loosed his wand and incanted the spell that he'd found when searching for ways to help Hiei find Yukina – the one that required only a name, but had the most limited range. It worked, and it was pointing in the direction of the old stadium.

"He won't make it back in time not to be disqualified, but I'm confident he'll make it back," Harry answered with a smile. "The magic trick with the cape didn't look like it injured him at all," he added.

Shizuru nodded and settled back in her chair as the dice were rolled again. This time sending Genkai – still known only as 'the masked fighter' by the demons in the audience – against anyone from Team Uraotogi. Shishiwakamaru decided to stay in, determined to remove the mask.

This late in the Dark Tournament, Genkai really didn't care any more. She'd told Team Urameshi – and cheer-squad – already, so where was the harm now? There was only two more fighters of Team Uraotogi to defeat, and then they'd be facing Team Torugo. Not that she'd see the official match personally. She would be meeting the younger Toguro alone, later, and he would kill her. She'd known that was coming for a long time, and had made her peace with it.

Still, she dodged Shishi's blade very well for quite some time before she let him shred her mask – she could have kept her anonymity, Harry's spell-work on her mask was good after all. It had withstood everything else so far that would have destroyed it. But no, she let the mask be ripped away by the demon's blade, even if she avoided being cut by it herself.

"I didn't realise I'd feel so much older after giving that much of my power away," she said softly in answer to the enquiring looks being sent her way by Hiei and Kurama, who she was standing near enough to for them to hear.

The two nodded in acceptance of this, and waited out the revelation of Genkai's identity to the rest of the demons in attendance.

Knowing he was fighting a celebrity rather _pleased_ Shishiwakamaru. He was chasing fame for himself after all, and what better way for a demon to gain fame than to kill a famous person? It worked for humans too after all, Harry had personal experience with _that_.

The chorus of a thousand skulls trick that Shishi did with his sword was... unpleasant, and though they were all safe up in their VIP box, Shiori and Yukina were out of their chairs in concern for Kurama and Hiei. They were back in their seats once assured that neither one would be killed by the flying phantasms Genkai's demonic opponent had released.

It was damn impressive seeing Genkai get young again by absorbing Shishi's energy and making it her own to reflect his attack back at him, and stealing a fair bit extra on top as well to _keep_ attacking. She broke his fancy sword and everything.

Which just left Onji, who rolled Team Urameshi's die – which called for the absent Kuwabara, who, when Juri suggested they roll the die again, turned out to not be so absent.

Shizuru was _not_ pleased with his gabbing over the microphone though. _Very_ not pleased. Neither was Koto, who's microphone he'd grabbed to gab over.

He didn't hang around in the ring long after Juri called for the fight to begin though. Onji sent the unfortunate teen away again just as Shishi's cape of no return had done, only without the cape. The guy was a pretty gifted demon. A re-roll summoned Genkai back to the ring.

Who promptly called him on his 'old man disguise', and snapped at him to ditch it.

He really was very ridiculous underneath. A clown suit, an obsession with being called 'beautiful', and aiming for god-hood. Still, he _did_ have some power though.

There was a a moment of pure shock when she stole his clown nose despite the huge attack. She gave him credit where it was due, but then proceeded to pound him without even using _any_ of her spirit energy. Just pure physical strength.

He wasn't even in the least 'beautiful' when she was done with him, unless it counted as a beautiful _mess_, and pretty much every woman in the stadium had a new goal – to be like Genkai. Even Shiori wanted to be as tough as the old woman when she got to that age, and Yukina was suddenly much more willing to train with Touya. Not that she'd been _un_willing before, but that kind of role-model really was inspiring.

And Team Urameshi was through to the finals.

~oOo~

Genkai left early the next morning, said her goodbyes to everyone – waking them up to say it if she had to – and went out to meet Toguro. Went out to die by his hand. She'd borrowed both Koenma's company and Harry's the night before, after everybody else had gone to sleep, and made up a will. All neat and official. She wasn't expecting to survive the encounter after all. If Yusuke actually _won_ in the finals – which were another few days away yet, there was the second semi-final to get through _that_ day, and then both of the winning teams would have another two days before meeting in the finals – then she knew it was entirely likely he'd ask for her to be brought back. Koenma would see that done too, if it came to it, but preparing for every eventuality was what was called for at that time.

Yusuke had to be tied down and sat on when she walked out the door of course, but Koenma was going to go with her to witness the fight, with Botan along as the ferry girl who would take her soul to Spirit World. And being sat on meant he'd have time to think about her last lesson – about facing time, and accepting the responsibilities of being a human, a fighter, and mortal.

Harry could have just used a spell or two to keep the kid from running off, and he _had_ used the immobulous spell which he'd previously used on Hiei so that he _could_ be tied down, but given enough time and struggles, it would wear off without the counter-curse. Petrificus totalus wouldn't, but locking up the kid's muscles like that wouldn't be good for his body, which needed to be in top condition for his fight in a couple of days.

For his part, Harry wanted to find and talk to Suzuka about those ingenious items he'd given to his team-mates. Kurama could, potentially, shed his human form and become a spirit fox totally once more. He had intended to from the beginning when he'd merged with the embryo in Shiori's womb. It would leave him weaker though. Alive, no longer a being of dual natures, but weaker. He'd taken refuge in Shiori's womb all those years ago to prevent his death, to build up his strength so that he could continue living, perhaps he would have to start again, weak as a yearling fox-cub, but he would have been whole and alive still.

They didn't have time for that now though. Right now, whatever it had been that caused Kurama to regress back into his previous form – at full strength what's more – they needed.

Fortunately, Suzuka was willing to be of assistance.

"If I can't beat Toguro, then at least my _items_ can," he said as he handed over a jar that contained the fruit of the past life, floating in juices, and which was the base of the smoke that had been used in the ring before.

Harry got a quick run down of everything Suzuka could tell him about this experimental weapon, but then he had a meeting to go to. A meeting with the committee of the Tournament, and the only other team owner who still had a team to fight. Somewhere along the line, the rich boys had recognised _him_ as Team Urameshi's owner, rather than Koenma. Oh, the prince of Spirit World was still the _official_ owner, and certainly he got the VIP ticket that entitled him to, but it was Harry they would talk to about the team if they wanted or needed to.

"You've done well for yourselves, haven't you? Sakyo? Lord Potter?" commented a round-ish old man with curly grey hair on top of his head and wide but closely-cut sideburns down his brown face. "It's the usual forty-four trillion to the winning owner, that should treat you nicely."

That was another difference too. Though it wouldn't be the first time a Guest Team had the chance of winning (the last time had been when Toguro and Genkai were on the same team fifty years ago), Koenma was prince of the _Spirit World_. He didn't exactly have a bank account for the winnings to be deposited into. For once, the committee would be paying out if the Guest Team won. They'd be paying out to Harry.

"When stacked on top of the sixty-six trillion you already got from Tarukane before his _unfortunate_ and _untimely_ death," the man continued to Sakyo, "or even just added to _your_ already impressive wealth," he added with a look at Harry.

"It's a ridiculous amount of money," finished a slightly Spanish-looking gentleman with square-rimmed glasses, who was also clearly heading for his twilight years. "What are you going to do use it on?"

"You could buy every company our organisation doesn't have already," suggested the third and last member of the committee, another older man. This one wearing, of all things, a _yellow_ suit. Not bright yellow, granted, but still yellow. "The whole world controlled by the black market's invisible hands."

Harry smirked. It seemed that they had forgotten that he wasn't a black market sort of man, and all just because he'd been involved with this Tournament so intimately.

"Now don't crowd the men with speeches," said the first man. "I'm sure they know the potential of this prize, and with the whole world to run, I'm sure they'll need a some trusty C.E.O.'s," he continued with a smile that was almost radiating greed. It made him look like a toad, actually. Considering he was offering himself as a toady, perhaps that was appropriate.

"Actually, I have much bigger plans," Sakyo declared absently as he smoked his cigarette.

"Oh really? Well, do tell."

Harry was interested in hearing this too. Even for a rich and ruthless business man with what looked a lot like a gambling problem, Sakyo was getting a bit greedy.

"I present my master scheme," Sakyo said, cigarette held between two fingers as he gestured lazily along with his little speech. "A giant tunnel connecting the living world with the demon one."

"Y-you're screwing with us!" insisted the glasses-wearing committee member.

"It's certainly ambitious," Harry allowed. "Why?"

"I want to completely re-define the food chain," Sakyo said, a vicious smirk on his face and a peculiar glint in his eye as he outlined his reasoning, his goal, and finally his _plan_ to get more money, because even the prize on top of the rest wasn't enough for his goals to be realised.

It rather offended the committee.

"Oh _do_ shut up," Harry ordered bluntly, still relaxed in his own chair, not the least perturbed by what Sakyo had said. "Peasants," he added for good measure. He wasn't normally a snob that way, but these guys were unpleasant and needed to be brought down at least a little bit.

"I _had_ thought you'd react negatively to my ideas, but it hardly matters at this late stage," Sakyo commented as a button was pressed, a wall lifted, and a small gang of demons walked in, all carrying weapons in their hands. "If you _have_ placed bets, I'll still collect, post mortem."

"Get him!" ordered the grey-haired round man, pointing at Sakyo.

Toguro stepped out from behind a screen where he'd been waiting then, and eliminated not only the demons, but the committee as well. He then turned towards Harry.

Harry who had his wand out. "Petrificus totalus," he incanted without hesitation, then stood. "It's nothing personal you see," he said as he watched the large man topple, frozen stiff by Harry's spell. "But I'm Team Urameshi's substitute, and you killed Genkai already this morning."

Sakyo's eyes, which despite the dangerous and possibly deranged glint of moments ago, were generally chips of ice in his face, went wide with surprise. There was even the smallest hint of worry in his gaze now as he looked from his prized fighter to the _alternate_ of Team Urameshi. Suddenly, winning didn't seem like quite the sure thing it had been.

"What will you do with the money, if your team wins?" he asked.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe I'll build a school," he said, not really dedicated to the idea, even if he was a qualified teacher these days. It wasn't like he actually did much official teaching in recognised establishments. "I've never really felt the need to _do_ anything with all my wealth beyond buy groceries and pay my utility bills. By the way, I've noticed that Team Toguro is only _four_ fighters strong," Harry commented with a raised eyebrow at Sakyo, not minding at all that Toguro was practically a statue at his feet.

"I am the fifth member of Team Toguro," Sakyo allowed.

Harry smiled. "How delightful," he purred. "You can impress Shizuru-chan with your _own_ fighting skills," he teased. He _had_ noticed the man sort-of flirting with the strong young woman whenever they crossed paths after all. This whole Tournament was turning into quite the dating service. Harry fought down the laughter that wanted to bubble up inside of him at that thought. "Finite incantatum," he cast negligently over his shoulder at Toguro as he walked out the door. "See you at the finals," he called, and headed off to talk to Kurama about the jar of fruit juice in his pocket.

Hiei and Touya had both gone out with Yukina, the three of them together. Hiei would be working on his own mastery of the darkness flame while Touya started Yukina's training, and they'd both be on hand if Hiei needed help – either healing, which Yukina could provide, or help getting back to the hotel for healing from _Harry_, who did know more about the art than Yukina, even if she was a natural as much as she was a fast study.

Kuwabara was still sitting on the bound Detective while Keiko fed him his lunch, Chu and Atsuko had taken over the complementary mini-bar, and everybody else – apart from Koenma and Botan who were back in Spirit World for a little while, talking things out with Genkai's soul – was playing cards around the coffee table.

"You can let him up now Kuwabara," Harry informed the teen as he entered the room. "It's over. I suggest both of you get outside and train some before the fight tomorrow."

They didn't need telling twice.

"You too, Kurama. I had a talk with the beautiful Suzuka, sans make-up and costume, even helped heal all the damage Genkai dealt him," Harry said, and reached into his pocket. "He gave me this," he added with a smirk as he pulled out the jar. "I think you'll like it."

"What is it?" Kurama asked, folding his cards and getting up from the table.

"The fruit of the tree of past life," Harry answered. "Apparently. According to the beautiful Suzuka, it's the base of that smoke that got you into your previous body the other day. He said it's a bit experimental yet, with unknown side-effects and such, but I don't see it hurting you at all. Still, we'll be testing it today, hmm?"

Kurama nodded, an eager look in his green eyes.

"Can I come?" Shiori asked hesitantly as the two males headed for the door.

Kurama turned sharply and blinked in surprise. "I... didn't think you would want to," he said quietly.

Shiori smiled a little sadly. "Well, I admit to having needed to drink a lot of calming draughts initially, to help me adjust, but I want to _know my son_, and this is part of you," she said firmly.

Kurama smiled. "Thank you, Mother," he said. "I'd love for you to come with us."


	10. Chapter 10

Harry had to escort the ladies up to his VIP booth, or they wouldn't be let in by the security demons, but once they – and the demons who had joined their company – were inside, he gave a wave and popped down to where the team was waiting to be announced.

He just had enough time to ditch the tie, adjust his acromantula-silk collared shirt – popping the top two buttons – shrug out of the suit jacket that would restrict his movements, and accept his sword and the dragon-hide coat he'd given to Kurama before leaving the hotel. A coat that had all of the rest of his potions stocked in its expanded pockets (minus the lunch-box full of calming draughts he'd entrusted to Yukina). All the restorative draughts, burn salves, blood-replenishing potions, pepper-ups, bone-fixers, organ-menders, _everything_. He'd buckled the sword to his belt and was just pulling the coat on when the doors started opening.

"Due to the psychic Genkai being killed out of the ring yesterday, Team Urameshi's substitute fighter Lord Potter will be taking her place on the team," Koto announced from her box as they walked out into the arena.

This caused a lot of the demons in the stands to comment that they thought he was the team's medic, and calling down insults, asking if he even knew how to fight.

Harry lay a hand over the hilt of his sword. Gryffindor's sword had been in his possession long enough that he thought of the hand-and-a-half sword as his own now. Surely he was good enough with it by now to be able to claim it properly? He had even been learning some more swordsmanship from the demons of his acquaintance as well.

The heckling calmed down as the demons noticed the blade at his side.

Then Juri was calling forth Team Toguro, which caused a similar commotion over Sakyo's presence. He, however, demurred and claimed he would not be _required_ to fight, as he was quite sure that Team Toguro would have the three wins required to win the Tournament before it got to his turn.

Harry sighed and shook his head. Well, so much for Sakyo impressing Shizuru with his fighting prowess, he thought to himself with a sad smirk.

The buzzer sounded, marking the time for the fights to officially begin. Of Team Toguro, Karasu stepped up first, his narrow blue eyes fixed on Kurama from behind his fall of long black hair.

Harry had done a damn fine job of keeping the members of the two teams away from each other until now, the initial meeting of the Toguro Brothers back at Tarukane's mansion and Genkai going out to die by the younger Toguro's hands the only exceptions. Apart from that, they'd only ever interacted with a swarm of demons between them, silent communications across the noisome crowd.

Despite that, it looked like Karasu had decided he wanted to fight Kurama.

Kurama looked at Hiei and Harry, who both smirked and nodded. After all the training the previous day, particularly with help from Harry, he'd been able to show off back in their hotel rooms. Yusuke and Kuwabara had missed it, still being out themselves, but from everybody else, he'd gotten a very positive reception. Calmly, he stepped up onto the stage of the arena, relaxed, assured, cool as a cucumber.

Even if he _had_ heard Atsuko and Shizuru talking about the way Karasu fought when they came back from watching the other fights.

"The first fight of the final round of the Dark Tournament, between Karasu of Team Toguro and Kurama of Team Urameshi will now _begin_!" Juri announced grandly, bringing her arm up and stepping backwards with a twirl to make sure she was out of the way of the combatants.

Normally, Kurama waited for his opponent to make the first move. With Karasu as that opponent, however, he knew that it could be a deadly mistake to do so. He instantly transformed, mentally blessing Harry who had driven him so hard yesterday that he was able to transform at will now between his human body and his demonic one. The half-second it took to adjust to being two feet taller again was thankfully not an issue, as Karasu was too busy blinking in surprise himself. It was a truly fortunate side-effect of these fights, that they were about showmanship as much as they were about winning.

If it had been a _real_ fight rather than a staged one, that half-second could have been the difference between keeping and losing one's head.

Koto certainly enjoyed the new view though, and closer to home, Harry could see the light of lust glowing in Hiei's eyes again as they trailed over Kurama's body, the glow of possessiveness, and then the fires were hidden behind a cloud of jealous anger as Hiei saw that same light in _Karasu's_ eyes as _they_ trailed over the fox.

Harry lay a calming hand over Hiei's shoulder. "No need for that," he said softly. "Kurama may be all kinds of horny because he's a teen-aged boy _and_ a fox-spirit, but he's also got _taste_."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei denied, glaring at Harry for a moment before returning his attention to Kurama, who was casually detonating all of Karasu's invisible bombs before they came within the range that would cause any damage to him.

To everybody but Karasu and Team Toguro, it was obvious that Kurama was simply toying with the other demon. Or perhaps _some_ of Team Toguro knew, but Sakyo was more interested in being entertained by the first fight, and if nothing else, it certainly _was_ entertaining.

And intimidating.

Koto said it best from her place in the commentary box: "Who knew that _botany_ could be so deliciously gruesome?"

"Anyone who went to _my_ school and paid attention in herbology class," Harry muttered to himself in answer, in English so no one really knew what he was mumbling, but really, he couldn't help but think of plants like devil's snare, the whomping willow, that puss-oozing cactus Neville had brought along at the beginning of fifth year, the mandrake plants from second year, and _so_ many others. It was a little different to see the perfectly normal, _non_-magical plants that Kurama used, enhanced by his demon energy to make them terrifying, but still. He'd known.

He also made a mental note to take a trip to South America next time he wanted to go gift-hunting for Neville. They sure seemed to have some interesting plants growing there. Or maybe he'd just suggest Neville take a vacation there or something the next time he wrote the guy.

Anyway, once Karasu's head was separated from his body, the giant Bui walked out onto the arena as the next combatant. Hiei answered.

"Measuring at four-foot-ten, without the hair: Hiei!" Juri declared, softly. "At nine feet: Bui!"

"Wow, nine feet tall is a lot of man, ladies! Then again, Hiei has proved time and again that kick-ass things come in _short_ packages too," Koto commented. "I have absolutely no idea who's going to win this one people, but I can state with _certainty_ that it's going to be exciting."

"He's got a bit of a _thing_ about fighting the big ones, doesn't he?" Harry commented to Kurama, amused.

Kurama, once again a shorter human red-head, had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as his green eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock at Harry's observation.

"Are you suggesting he's _compensating_ for something?" Yusuke asked, having heard Harry's comment and been amused.

"I'm not suggesting anything," Harry countered innocently, a smile on his face. "Just making an observation. Now Kurama, how beat-up are you pretending not to be?" he asked, much more seriously. "That was a _lot_ of bombs Karasu threw at you, and you _did_ take a _couple_ of hits."

Kurama blushed, mumbled an answer, and accepted the potion vials from Harry, while Bui started using his giant axe to fling concrete blocks from the arena floor at Hiei. Or, at where Hiei _was_. The smaller demon was _much_ too fast to get hit by something as slow-moving as a thrown block of rock.

Well, unless he decided to hit the rock anyway. Which eventually he did, and more impressively, met the blade of Bui's giant axe with his flame-shrouded fist and sent the broken blade flying. He caught the next axe by the blade with his bare hand, and _incinerated_ it.

Harry applauded.

Kurama was more concerned about what else Hiei might have mastered along with the mortal flame he had used to dispose of the second giant axe. He would be impressed later, _after_ the battle was over, preferably when it was _won_.

"I warned you that was a foolish manoeuvre," Hiei said, a frown on his face. "But you refused to listen, much to _your_ disadvantage and to _my _boredom, and _that_ is not forgiveable," he added with quiet solemnity.

Bui actually apologised for that, and took off his armour so that he could give Hiei a _proper_ fight. It was most impressive. More than that was Hiei's strategy of catching Bui with his own attack – it wasn't enough, but it _was_ impressive all the same. After all, how good can a fighter be if he can't dodge an attack that _he_ sent after his _much faster_ opponent? Even if he can withstand it. Really, it was just proof that Bui was _still_ underestimating Hiei.

Mistake number one: he thought he could defeat Hiei the same way he'd defeated everybody else in the Tournament.

Mistake number two: he left his armour on for as long as he did, which meant taking the time _during the fight_ to take it off. Okay, Hiei was honourable enough _not_ to attack him when he was making himself vulnerable, but it was still an indication of underestimating his opponent.

Mistake number three: not sending an appropriately powerful attack after Hiei and _telling him so_.

Harry shook his head in amusement as he recognised so many of the same mistakes that Voldemort and his flunkies had made with _him_ in the past.

Then Hiei started to remove the bandages, sutras and seals that he'd had over his arm since the he returned to the hotel room the night before.

"Wait, neither fighter can control his energy," Kurama whispered to himself, fear entering his usually calm green eyes. "If they clash, the stadium could crumble!"

"Don't you worry about that," Harry whispered back, laying a hand over Kurama's shoulder. "I made them all protective talismans before we left, remember? Those will create a forcefield around each of them with a radius of one metre if even _one_ of them says the activation code word, which the guys with them know as well. No matter what happens, they'll all be just fine, and so will we," Harry promised, giving the boy as sure of a smile as he could – and he could give a pretty damn sure smile. He had a lot of practice at smiling despite dangerous circumstances after all.

Kurama's tense frame relaxed under Harry's hand. "Yes, thank you," he said. "I had forgotten that you could get us out in a hurry if needed."

"Woah!" Harry yelped suddenly, realising he'd forgotten someone as Koto called out for Juri to get out of the way. "Accio Juri!"

"Props to Lord Potter for getting Juri out of the ring before she got turned into a pile of ash," Koto announced. "Now all you fans out there, take it from someone who was in the ring the first time – this attack is _not the same_. It's like a super-hyper-mega dragon!"

Juri covered her head and cowered behind Harry.

Hiei released the attack.

Bui caught the dragon by the nose, something previously thought impossible.

"I hope you don't think that dragon is _completed_," Hiei sneered, as he released even more power.

"Amazingly, Bui is avoiding instant vaporisation, but the dragon's strength is immense and it's bull-dozing him around the stadium. Something _has_ to _give_!" Koto cried into her microphone. It wasn't long before everybody realised that that 'something' was going to be the stadium. "Alright people, this is the mayhem you can _only_ expect from the _final_," she said, beginning to sound slightly overwhelmed by everything that was happening. "The weaker ones in the crowd are being instantly incinerated. It's hell in a basket and _I love it all_!"

Harry smiled. That Koto wasn't being incinerated with the other weak demons of the crowd proved that she wasn't too shabby on the power-meter either.

After a _very_ impressive struggle, Bui managed to turn the dragon around and send it back at Hiei, who was swallowed by the dragon. Didn't even _try_ to dodge or resist. It certainly _looked_ like Hiei was unable to fight. When Koto called on Juri to make a call – and the girl finally got up to make it – the belief of Hiei's incineration was proved to be somewhat premature. Hiei was completely unharmed, even.

When Bui tried to beat Hiei up, Hiei didn't budge and didn't bruise. Hiei was totally unaffected by everything Bui threw at him, even his battle aura, and everybody else watched as Bui became more and more desperate until Hiei actually retaliated, ploughing the much larger demon into the stands, upon which time he was declared the winner when Bui didn't make it back onto the fractured ring before Juri's ten-count was completed.

Hiei managed to hold it together completely until he stepped off shattered ring. He started shaking as he stopped in front of the rest of the team. Not like Kuwabara, who was shaking from being in the proximity of the awesome power of his team-mate. Hiei was shaking with exhaustion.

"I don't know if your brains can imagine it, but this attack drained a good deal of my energy," Hiei explained to Yusuke and Kuwabara before his mouth stretched in a yawn. "I'll require some hibernation to get it back," he continued, fighting now to keep his eyes open. He turned to Harry and Kurama. "Think you can find a safe place to stash my body where it won't get stepped on?" he asked, then glared at Yusuke and Kuwabara. "If I wake up and find out you've lost, I'll kill you."

Kurama smiled and looked to Harry, who smirked and picked Hiei up in a bridal carry, then popped away to the VIP box.

"Ladies and gents," he said with a smile as he set Hiei down in one of the free couches. "Our hero!" he declared, and conjured a blanket to wrap the _already_ sleeping demon up in. "Take care of him, yeah?"

"Of course we will," Yukina insisted, already moving to her brother's side to wrap a bandanna over his already closed Jagan and run her fingers through his hair.

Harry smiled at the siblings fondly, saluted the group, then popped back down to the arena as Koto announced an intermission while a new ring was brought in. Apparently they would _not_ be trying to fight on the puzzle-pieces left behind from Hiei's fight.

"Well then guys, I'm gonna go back to the locker-room and relax, get into my fighting groove until it's time to start again," Kuwabara announced.

"Tell them why you're _really_ leaving," the elder Toguro said with a smirk as he appeared within their midst. "You're frightened because you've realised you're about to _die_."

"Now why would _that_ be?" Harry asked, casting a silence spell over Kuwabara surreptitiously. "It isn't like he'll be facing _you_ after all," he added.

Kuwabara clearly didn't like hearing that, or being silenced, as he started gesticulating wildly.

"Oh?" the little man asked, turning to fix his gaze on Harry.

Harry nodded. "Sakyo's been flirting with his older sister," he stated solemnly. "It is of course his duty to make sure the man is worthy."

The horrible little man snickered. "Will _you_ be fighting me then?" he asked. "_You_? The _substitute_? The _soft_, _rich_ man who hasn't fought at all throughout this Tournament?" The once-human looked Harry up and down. "For that matter, you don't look like you've ever fought a day in your life. Are you looking for death?"

Harry smiled. "Our team needs only _one_ more win. Your brother insists on fighting the Detective, and Kuwabara will have to fight Sakyo over his sister's virtue at _some_ point, so really, unless they both lose and we need a deciding battle..." he trailed off, still smiling.

The elder Toguro scowled, but walked back to his own team. It was unlikely that _he_ would lose, to his thinking, but he _did_ know that his brother would be _most_ displeased if he could not fight Urameshi.

"Of course, if you like, I could always just kill you now by boiling all the blood in your veins," Harry offered archly before the guy got too far.

"You'll what?!" the elder Toguro shrieked, turning around and stretching his fingers – with their sharp, pointy nails towards Harry.

Harry laughed, grabbed all three of his remaining conscious team-mates, and apparated up to the VIP box. It was going to take a while for the mess in the arena to be cleared up after all, they had time to relax and eat.

"I'm not sure making _that_ guy mad was such a bright idea, Potter-san," Urameshi commented darkly.

Harry snorted and raised an eyebrow at the kid. "And making a bomb go 'boom' in your face _is_?" he countered before sauntering off to sit and talk with Jin.

"Hey! I _survived_ that!" Yusuke objected loudly before being grabbed by Keiko and handed a drink by his mother. Nothing alcoholic of course, she wasn't _that_ irresponsible, even _before_ she'd started getting lessons on how to be a _good_ mother from Shiori.

"Um, Potter-san?" Shizuru called. "Why can't my baby brother talk?"

"Oops," he said with a chuckle as he pulled out his wand. "Forgot about that. Finite incantatum."

"Never do that to me again!" Kuwabara yelled.

"Oh sit down," Shizuru ordered absently. "Why did I ask?" she mumbled to herself as she rolled her eyes.

"And what's this about the rich guy on the _other_ team flirting with you?"

Harry chuckled. "I've just been teasing them both about Sakyo flirting with Shizuru since the two of them met," he admitted with a grin. "They have the same taste in cigarettes too, among other things." Like gambling, fighting, and of course _each other_. Even if Sakyo claimed he'd rather kill himself than succumb to the wife-and-kids lifestyle. Besides, Harry was fairly sure that Shizuru wasn't all that too keen on the 'kids' idea either, even if she did mother her baby brother with an expert hand. "I think they look good together, but that might just be me."


	11. Chapter 11

It took six hours for the rubble to be cleared out and the ring from the old stadium to be brought in and situated properly. Several people in their VIP box decided to follow Hiei's example and took a nap in that time.

"I wouldn't call six hours 'hibernation'," Harry commented to Jin when he spotted Kurama smiling at Hiei, who was opening his eyes again. "I call that 'a damn good nap', but not 'hibernation'."

"I'm inclined to agree with you," Jin answered with a smile. "But the look on his face? Innocent as a baby it was. Sure slept deep while he was out of it."

Harry hummed in agreement, and reached into his coat pocket. "Kurama," he called as he pulled out a vial. He tossed it over once he had the red-head's attention. "Make him drink it," he ordered.

"What is it?" Hiei asked, eyeing the potion Kurama held.

Kurama pulled off the stopper and gave it a sniff. "A restorative draught," he answered. "Just a general 'make you better', since you _are_ essentially unhurt, I suppose."

Harry nodded when both of them looked at him, and Hiei accepted the potion. He then accepted a cup of coffee from Yukina to get rid of the taste.

Koto's voice came over the speakers then, announcing that they were ready to continue the fights again at last, as the new ring was in place.

"Kurama, Hiei, I'll leave you two up here with the good seats, hmm?" Harry suggested as he got up from his chair.

"Agreed," they answered, only a little reluctantly. Up here, they would be able to watch the fights _and_ their loved-ones.

Harry nodded and grabbed hold of Yusuke and Kazuma's shoulders, then apparated the three of them back down to the ring. Where the younger Toguro was ready for his fight with Urameshi, his older brother practically _pouting_ where he was forced to wait with their employer on the sidelines.

Of course, with the way Toguro started by shattering the stage pretty much straight up, Harry wondered why he'd bothered doing anything more than just drawing a great big circle in the dirt, and then there was the fact that Puu – who'd been attached to Yusuke's hair again when Harry apparated them down – was the one making a forcefield to keep Kuwabara's skin on his bones. It was amusing actually, how Urameshi had literally thrown Puu at his best friend in embarrassment before he jumped up onto the arena stage. Now though, _very_ good thing he did. Puu was one useful little spirit beast. As for all the girls up in the VIP box? Harry was fairly sure they'd all be _quite_ safe behind the reinforced glass, and with the protective talismans he'd given to all of them. Failing that, the demons (Yukina included) would no doubt be able to come up with something.

For himself, Harry was just fine, though he couldn't help but notice Sakyo had been forced to stand behind the elder Toguro for some measure of protection, which was funny considering the hight disparity. He _also_ couldn't help noticing that both Juri and Koto were completely unaffected beyond being a _little_ bit shook up from having watched others suffer, Juri more so than Koto.

It took only ten minuets of battle between the two of them to leave nothing more than a black mark where the arena had been. Which left Harry feeling justified in his opinion that they really should have just drawn a circle on the ground.

And then the attack from Yusuke that had vaporised the arena and shot Toguro through the wall ultimately only succeeded in finally knocking the man's shades off – proven when he got up and walked back into the arena space.

In response to Toguro's apparent disappointment at still being _alive_, the kid went and showed off the spirit cuffs Genkai had given him, releasing them and _really_ flexing _his own_ spirit energy.

Harry whistled, impressed. "Definitely phoenix," he said, and collected Puu from Kuwabara – the danger of his flesh being ripped from his bones by Toguro's power was passed for now after all. He smiled at the small bird and tickled his tummy. "You're gonna look just like that when you get big," he promised the spirit beast as he looked back up at Yusuke's power circling the stadium majestically. It really was a beautiful thing to see, to feel, even to hear when it sang out a note before settling down over the boy like a cloak and soaked back into his skin.

Unfortunately, that _didn't_ make everything plain sailing, and after a serious pummelling, Toguro got up and proved that he had even _more_ power than he'd shown off before. Power enough to shake the earth around him without moving, certainly, and it wiped out the demons in the stands without any difficulty. Figuring out if he was decimating the crowd accidentally or deliberately, on the other hand, was _much_ harder.

"He claims to be getting stronger, but I just see him getting _uglier_," Harry commented when the eclipse caused by Toguro's power-up ended.

"Are we certain he doesn't get stronger?" Kazuma asked nervously.

Harry shrugged. "Don't know," he answered absently. "Come on, we're gonna go stand with Koto-chan and Juri-chan."

"No way," Kuwabara objected. "I'm not movin'!"

Harry shrugged. "If you like," he allowed and walked away from the boy, Puu cradled in his arms, though he quite didn't reach either of the cute referee girls before Yusuke landed at his feet with a broken arm and organ damage. Harry sighed and pulled out a couple of vials and his wand. He forced the potions into the boy, knowing the Detective would refuse to drink them if given a choice.

"Hey!" Yusuke growled at him.

"Suck it up, Princess," Harry answered. "He's taunting you again, and as much as I have a 'saving people' complex, I _do_ know when it's not my fight to take point in," he said, then kept walking, collecting Juri on his way to Koto, hopping over the barrier to sit with the cute demoness, pulling Juri after him so she could cower at their feet.

Not long after that, Toguro started sucking in the _souls_ of the weaker demons in the audience, using them to _maintain_ his high power-level.

It really was a very unpleasant fight after that. Toguro threatening the many various people Urameshi cared about in order to get him to fight harder, fight better, fight stronger.

"Potter-san, let go of Puu's body, Yusuke needs a reality check," came Genkai's voice. From the little blue body in Harry's arms.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Give me a pair of those spirit cuffs before you go away again, and you've got a deal," he answered.

"Never letting an old woman rest," Genkai sighed, but nodded, chanting as Puu's body flapped around Harry's wrists, then ankles, leaving a glowing gold light behind before flying off to yell at her favourite dimwit.

He had _really_ not expected the old woman to tell Toguro to kill one of Yusuke's friends. He apparated over to Kuwabara's fallen form quick-sharp, and pulled out his wand.

"Don't," Kuwabara whispered. "Urameshi needs a kick in the behind. I'm fine."

"You're _not_ fine!" Harry hissed back. "I'll play along, but you're _still_ hurt, so damn well let me treat you!" he growled, then apparated the boy up to the VIP box where Shizuru could watch over her baby brother while Botan and Yukina healed him up more thoroughly. He also left the rest of the calming draughts he had on his person with Shiori, who was pouring one down the throat of Keiko every approximate twenty minutes, just to keep her in the here-and-now. This fight was _really_ starting to drag out. Then he popped back down to Juri and Koto. Like hell he was leaving that cocky brat to fight this alone and without any adult supervision close at hand, particularly adult supervision with medical supplies like his.

The effect Kuwabara's willing walking towards the demon who would kill him had on Urameshi was profound. The effect Urameshi's fist then had on Toguro had an equally profound effect on the audience – who had started cheering for Urameshi after the first time Toguro sucked up some of their souls. Kid even blew _another_ hole in the walls, both of the stadium itself and the ones around the stadium that Sakyo had pressed the button for to stop the lesser demons from running away before the fight was over.

It was a real nail-biter, for sure, and it ended with a definitely _dead_ Toguro on the ground, with Yusuke weakly getting up from where _he'd_ fallen after committing himself to one last blast – his own full power against Toguro's. This understandably _displeased_ the man's older brother, to say nothing of how completely stunned it rendered his employer.

"You killed my brother!" the little man shrieked, fingers extending to pierce the Detective's flesh and kill him.

Harry apparated in front of the boy, wand at the ready and the blood-boiling curse on his lips. A thought occurred to him as the wretched man started screaming and clawing at his own skin, and Harry smirked cruelly as he cast one spell after another.

"Defodio!" The gouging spell. "Deprimo!" A spell that increased downward pressure over a localised point. "Diffindo!" The severing charm – aimed in this instance at the elder Toguro's hands. "Glacius tria!" The most powerful of the glacius spells that turned things into ice, which could then be melted through the use of: "Incendio!" which left the elder Toguro as nothing more than a puddle on the ground, thanks to the fire spell. All that, and only the initial blood-boiling curse could be classified as a 'dark' spell. Still, the horrible little man was dead.

"Winner of the Dark Tournament, Team Urameshi!" Juri and Koto declared happily into their microphones.

"What does it matter?" Yusuke asked quietly. "Kuwabara's dead, Genkai's dead, I just let everybody down in the end."

Harry sighed, lay a hand on the kid's shoulder, and popped up to the VIP box with him before returning to the arena, leaving before he'd get to see Yusuke try and kill Kazuma for dying.

"So," he said, casually walking up to Sakyo. "What now for you?"

"I've lost a good portion of my fortune with the bookies, my prize fighter is dead, and my ambitions are therefore completely out of my reach," Sakyo answered.

"Start again from scratch?" Harry suggested absently. "You've got a lousy resume really, making your fortune completely at the gambling tables. Still, you managed it once before, and maybe you could try something white-collar on the side, see if it really _would_ make you want to kill yourself," he added with a smirk.

"That's right," Sakyo said, sticking a new smoke into his mouth. "I'd quite forgotten, what with how present you've been during this Tournament. You're actually a _good_ guy, aren't you? Not a black market man."

Harry shrugged. "Lord and knight of Her Majesty," he stated simply. "On the other hand, I _did_ just kill the elder Toguro by, among other things, _boiling_ his _blood_ as it flowed through his veins."

Sakyo chuckled. "Yes," he agreed. "You're not pure."

"Of course I'm not. No human is. Having shades of grey between the black and the white is what makes us _human_ in the _first place_."

Sakyo pulled a remote control with a single, red button on it out of his pocket and handed it over to Harry.

"That will cause the stadium, and my lab where I've been working on making that tunnel to Demon World, to self destruct. Everything, all the progress I've made, all the research I'd conducted, will be destroyed," Sakyo said.

"Hmm," Harry said with a smirk, then loosed his wand from his sleeve so that it dropped into his hand once more. He then pointed it at the large wall that was visible through the gaping hole created during Hiei's fight with Bui.

"Bombarda maxima!" he declared, and watched with satisfaction as the two-metre-thick concrete walls exploded outwards and collapsed. He sure was getting away with a _lot_ thanks to being on an unregistered island right now. Back on the mainland of Japan, he'd have the local equivalent of Aurors breathing down his neck for performing spells in front of people (Sakyo in this case) who didn't already know about magic. His knowing about demons would likely _not_ be an acceptable excuse if he was called to court about the matter. Then again, who knew for sure? It wasn't going to be tested any time soon after all.

"Um... Excuse me, Lord Potter?" Koto asked as she and Juri approached him. "What about Team Urameshi's prizes? As winners of the Dark Tournament, they get to ask the committee for whatever they want..."

Harry hummed. "Well, apart from Sakyo-san, myself, and I suppose Koenma on a technicality, there aren't any people at all affiliated with the committee left to do that," he said, a slight frown on his face.

When everybody was out of the stadium, Harry pressed the red button Sakyo had handed over, and went to talk to Koenma alone. For everybody else, it was time to go back to the hotel, pack up their stuff, and reflect.

"It's gonna be weird, not fearing for my life all the time any more," Yusuke commented in the team's room.

"Don't feel bad, Urameshi, I could still beat you up after school every day if you want," Kuwabara offered.

Kurama gave a single, slightly derisive, chuckle at that. "I agree with Yusuke. Life after this will seem... pale for a while," he said.

Hiei snorted in contempt. "Then I _suggest_ you spend more time at the wizard's house, we'll be settling in two demon shinobi after all," he quipped pointedly.

"Puu~!"

"Hey! I wondered where you'd gone off to!" Yusuke said, turning back to the window and letting the little spirit beast in. "You're sort of like a telephone to Spirit World, aren't you? Well come on, patch me through to Grandma. What you'll do it for her but you won't do it for me?"

"Stop it Yusuke," Kurama ordered softly. "It won't work."

"What are you talkin' about?" Urameshi demanded lowly.

"The part of Spirit World Genkai spoke from is the place _between_ the living and the dead, where the souls of those passed go before being given their final resting place. Hers was a priority case. I'm sure that by now..." Kurama explained.

"By now, Koenma's finally gotten back to his office and sorted out putting her soul back in her body, which he also had fixed up a bit," Harry put in from the door, a smile on his face as he walked into the room and stepped aside to reveal the old hag herself. "You know, mostly healing the mortal wounds, but there might have been a little bit of easing any arthritis that was starting to set in."

"Must have rubbed off on me, dimwit, I died like you," Genkai said with a smirk. "Half-assed."

"Genkai! Come here you beautiful hag!" Yusuke cried, running to her across the room.

On the ship back to the mainland, everybody joined in the party celebrating Genkai's return from the dead – and if Harry and Jin kissed each other with everybody looking on, well, they only got cat-calls for it.

None of them felt like being tossed off the side of the boat after all.


	12. Chapter 12

"Ya really don't go in for the big mansions an' stuff like the other rich bastards, do ya?" Jin had commented when he saw Harry's house.

Harry shook his head. "It was tempting, for about ten minutes when I was eleven, but it didn't last further than meeting my first rich snob on the train to Hogwarts. Really, I'd have given all of my money just to have a _home_ where people _cared_ about me, rather than living in a house that was more like a prison," he answered. "Come on in," he offered as he turned the key in his front door.

Jin lay a hand on Harry's shoulder as Hiei led the way inside, Yukina and Touya behind him.

"Ya got that now," he said, eyes soft as he lifted his hand from Harry's shoulder to tenderly stroke the soft skin of his cheek. "Didn't cost you anything either."

Harry smiled. "Yeah, I do," he agreed happily. "Now get in here!" he added with a grin, tugging the big red-head inside and closing the door behind them both.

Things settled quickly back into the routine of before. Kurama went to his high school, Urameshi and Kuwabara alternated skipping classes and attending theirs, and Harry went off to Genkai's on his own the first weekend back. He was mildly surprised to find that he wasn't the only one visiting the old woman. There were three teens there, one of whom was totally incapacitated and with a little glowing orb hovering over him. It was his soul. His friends had brought him to Genkai for help.

Before he left back to his own home on Monday morning, Genkai asked him to keep an eye out for any more other-worldly creepy-crawlies, but she didn't tell him what she thought was going on – which suited Harry well enough. Urameshi was the one doing the world-saving bit these days, and he'd only just gotten back from the Dark Tournament. He wanted more time to snuggle with Jin.

Still, he did talk to Jin about it when he got back. He might have mentioned it to the other three, but Touya and Yukina had gone off on a date, and Hiei was shadowing them – more than willing to give Harry and Jin time to themselves while taking advantage of it for their own purposes as well.

"Genkai's suffering an influx of new psychics her temple, people who suddenly need help controlling strange new powers. She still managed to have time to talk to me while I was there this weekend. These people don't know why, they don't know how, but they all knew pretty quickly that they needed control. Spirit World will probably be in a small panic over it once they get over the post-Tournament lull," he said from within his lover's embrace. "Random bursts of power from _humans_. They're used to demons running amok and know how to deal with it. Humans not so much."

"And then there's the masses of demon bugs that have been showing up," Jin commented, pulling a face as he did. "All attracted to the power that's coating this city like thick Irish stew. I must have swatted at least fifteen of the buggers on my morning fly today before ya got home."

The Tuesday after that, Harry was home alone – Hiei was helping Yukina and Touya improve their speed, and Jin was out for his morning zoom around the sky over the city – when the doorbell rang.

"I'm enough of an ego-maniac that I don't like the idea of _my_ plans going ahead _without_ me," Sakyo said by way of greeting when Harry opened the front door to find him standing there.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the man, then stepped aside and let him into the house. "You don't write, you don't call, and suddenly you're standing in my entryway," Harry quipped. "And don't give me the excuse of having to track me down in the yellow pages. I know perfectly well you're the person who had my VIP ticket delivered to my door in the first place. Come on, I'll make a pot of coffee," he said, waving the man to follow him into the kitchen.

"Yes, I did. And thank you," Sakyo agreed. "Though how you can stand to live like this I have _no_ idea."

Harry shrugged. "My childhood was spent living in a cupboard under the stairs while my relatives spent all their money on my cousin, buying him things he wouldn't want a week later. Then through my teenage years I was taking classes in a draughty old castle that was acting as a boarding school. _This_ is _my_ choice," he explained blandly. Then he smirked as he set two mugs and the coffee pot on the table. "A thin veneer of normality to disguise all my strangeness," he added.

Sakyo chuckled in amusement and accepted the hot drink.

"Now, you were saying something about being an ego-maniac?" Harry asked as he sat down with the man.

"Someone else is making a tunnel to demon world," Sakyo stated. "You blew up my lab when I lost my fortune and everybody had cleared out of the stadium, so they lack all my research and technology at least, but that tunnel was still _my_ plan."

"Who else knew about it?" Harry asked.

"I told the committee, but you were there: they're all dead. Apart from us, and possibly Koenma, only the Toguro brothers knew, and you and the Detective took care of both of them rather effectively," Sakyo answered solemnly.

Harry grit his teeth and got up from the kitchen table.

Sakyo watched as he opened a cupboard that wasn't there a moment ago, grabbed something out of it, closed the cupboard door, and stared as the cupboard vanished again.

Harry returned to the table with a Spirit World communication mirror – as opposed to the kind produced by the wizarding world.

"Koenma," he called. "I've got a _very_ important question for you."

"What is it? I'm busy! I've got all this paperwork that got backed up while I was at the Tournament to get through!" Koenma snapped back over the device.

"You processed the _younger_ Toguro, didn't you?" Harry asked. "What about the older brother?"

"Um..." Koenma hesitated. "No, now that you mention it. I haven't see his name cross my desk at all. Why is that? You killed him, didn't you?"

"I boiled his blood in his veins, gave him a new opening in his chest, cut off his hands, forced him two feet into the ground, turned him into a block of ice, and then turned that block of ice into a puddle," Harry recounted dispassionately. "If you get permission from the appropriate government bodies, I'll just use the killing curse on him the next time I see him. There's a _reason_ that spell is illegal though, so I'd like my notice of legality in my hand _before_ I go hunting him down. My good reputation with that lot won't hold up to me using that spell."

Koenma pulled at his collar. "I'll see what I can do," he nervously answered at last.

"You believe Toguro could be behind this?" Sakyo asked once Harry had put the communication mirror back in its very effective hiding spot.

"Well _I'm_ not, _you're_ not, and _Koenma_ sure as hell isn't," Harry answered. "I doubt he's working alone though. After what I put him through, I doubt he'd be recovered enough to do more than tell someone else about it. The _concern_ is who did he tell?"  
Sakyo agreed, but could offer no answers, so for a while the two of them just sat in silence, drinking their coffee.

"I was under the impression that you _didn't_ live alone," Sakyo said at last, breaking the silence.

"Mm," Harry hummed in an agreeing tone. "That's right. They're all out right now though, training, maybe killing any other-worldly insects that cross their paths as well. There seem to be a lot of them hanging around here, where there's _power_ hanging thick in the air, and even more in Mushiyori City."

"So you were already aware of the problem," Sakyo observed.

Harry shook his head. "No, we were recently made aware of some of the symptoms, and where, geographically, it was all originating from, but not the source of the problem. The random manifestation of psychic abilities in previously normal people isn't something that manages to fly under the radar for long after all, and my house-mates aren't exactly fond of bugs that turn humans into zombies, so they notice things like that as well."

"Quite," Sakyo agreed. "You aren't training as well? You _are_ powerful after all, and I'm sure the Detective and his friends could use your help."

Harry smirked. "Who said I wasn't?" he asked. "I catch up with Genkai regularly to make sure I don't get soft, and train at my own pace between visits," Harry explained in answer to Sakyo's curious look. "So, how are your fortunes? That looks a lot like the suit you were wearing the _last_ time we talked, and that was over a week ago now," Harry prodded, then had to suppress a chuckle at Sakyo's expression.

"Money's been a bit tighter," he admitted. "I'm having to sell a few of the businesses I owned in order to cover the more expensive bets I made at the Dark Tournament, to say nothing of other expenses. It's been a while since I've been without the comfort of _trillions_ in my bank account, and here I am reduced to a mere couple of hundred million."

Harry couldn't help snorting in mildly-disgusted amusement. "It wasn't like all that moneymade you happy anyway," he said.

Sakyo smirked in answer. "True, it was _making_ the money that made me happy. The thrill of gambling, taking a risk, or setting up a bet so that I couldn't lose. Still, the money itself was never anything to sneer at, and it definitely provided any and all of the creature comforts I wanted."

"Well, you _don't_ have my sympathy. You _do_ surprise me though. I'd have thought you'd be going to the people who are opening the tunnel and offering your resources," Harry commented archly.

"I don't take orders, I _give_ them. I particularly don't take kindly to not being in charge of a project that _I_ thought up," Sakyo answered seriously.

"Right, the whole ego-maniac bit," Harry agreed.

For a while, they sat in silence, drinking coffee. Sakyo pulled out a packet of cigarettes when his cup was empty, but Harry magically snatched them away.

"I don't care if you poison yourself, really I don't. I don't even care if you smoke across the table from me. The smell takes forever to get out of carpet though, and while I can endure the smell for as long as it takes you to burn through one of these awful things, I don't care to have it linger in my home," Harry said firmly, holding up the packet and waving it occasionally as he spoke.

"I apologise," Sakyo said, surprised, before he took back his cigarettes and stuffed them back into his jacket pocket. "Lord Potter, may I ask why you didn't say anything to Koenma about the tunnel?"

"He'll figure it out," Harry answered with a shrug. "He's buried in paperwork for now, but once he starts to get it under control again, he'll see the signs too, and by then Urameshi-san will be chomping at the bit for a fight."

Sakyo smirked. "Sounds like some great entertainment, but I don't have the Black Black Club to make bets with any more."

"And the world breathes easier for it," Harry quipped. "Look, I'm staying out of this one as much as I can, and if _you_ have any care at all for your immortal soul, you'll clean up your act a bit. After all, Koenma will judge you too when the time comes."

Sakyo nodded silently, and frowned in thought. "I've been wondering," he said, "why you didn't just kill me."

"You mean back when you handed over the red button and I pressed it?" Harry asked, making sure he knew what the other man was talking about. "No idea," he answered when Sakyo nodded. "If it really bothers you though, I can kill you now?"

Sakyo's eyes widened. "But -"  
"Oh no one would know," Harry promised darkly. "The neighbours would even see you walk out my front door afterwards. I'm not _actually_ as nice of a person as I claim to be, not all the time. I couldn't get along so well with the demons I live with if I was. I wouldn't have seen my _twelfth birthday_ if I was. Have you made a will?" he asked curiously.

Sakyo shook his head slowly, mute with shock and eyes still wide. He hadn't realised that Lord Potter was quite _this_ dangerous any of the times they'd talked in the past. Not even when he'd petrified Toguro in the committee's meeting room had the man seemed _this_ dangerous.

Harry's wand appeared in his hand. "Here's what I want you to do," he said calmly. "In an effort to make sure you don't ever start plotting to re-arrange the food-chain again, you're going to sell _everything_ you have. Stocks, bonds, shares, property, any material asset that has a resale value. Get that fancy phone out of your pocket and do it now," Harry ordered politely, still yet to fire off any spell though his wand was pointed straight at Sakyo's head. "You can keep _one_ house and fixings. I wouldn't want you to be completely homeless."

The man hurried to comply, and Harry watched as he gave the orders.

"Now, I'm going to hold all of that vast fortune of yours, and you'll get an allowance from it to live on every month," Harry informed the man once the sales were all confirmed. Even the vast tracts of land he owned now belonged to someone else, and it had only been a half-hour conversation. A courier would be arriving at the door shortly with the keys to the only house Sakyo still owned. The building that now held all of his remaining worldly possessions. "Legillimens," Harry intoned, and rushed through the man's mind, finding bank details and the address of the house Sakyo had kept, making note of where other important details were – things like his memories of learning to read and write, his numbers, how to drive and his own name among others.

Then Harry killed the man. It only took one word: "Obliviate," he said, and stripped the man of so many memories. It was almost what Lochheart had accidentally done to himself with Ron's broken wand back in second year, only this time Harry was doing it, and with purpose. Useful thing about the memory charm was that, not only did it remove memories that the caster sought to erase, it could also _plant new ones_.

The Sakyo that sat in Harry's kitchen now believed that he had come to his friend for help with his gambling problem. A problem that had recently gotten him fired from his very well-paying job (which explained the suit and the house he still owned and all that would be in it). He believed that he had _asked_ his friend, the wealthy but modest Lord Potter, to help him get over said problem by taking complete charge of his bank account – and of course that Harry had agreed. After all, he'd been warning Sakyo for months that his gambling habit would get him in trouble one of these days, but it had taken being fired for it before Sakyo saw that Harry was right.

"Thank you, Harry," Sakyo said with a grateful smile once Harry had put his wand away.

Harry smiled back, and felt no guilt at all. It wasn't a _nice_ thing to do, it wasn't even an _easy_ thing to do (even with magic), but it _had_ been a _right_ and _necessary_ thing to do. "You're welcome," he said. "And hey, if you really shape up, you might even be able to convince Shizuru-chan to date you, hmm?" he teased. He really couldn't resist leaving in the memories Sakyo had of sharing his lighter with the young lady. Not when he saw the slightly pink light of fondness that surrounded them.

Sakyo laughed, but it was a little bashful. "I don't know if she'd be thrilled about dating a guy with a scar down his face," he countered.

Harry had left the memory of how Sakyo got that scar alone. It had been an accident in his childhood, and the root of his hatred for his family. Harry had replaced that hatred with resentment and drifting apart as they got older, so that they didn't call and didn't visit any more, but the mark was still there, and the reason for its being there was still that his oldest brother had been given a hunting knife for his birthday and wanted to test how sharp it was.

Some parts of Sakyo's life _did_ suck, and it really explained a lot about the guy.

"I don't think she minds all that much," Harry countered with a grin. "Now get out of here before my boyfriend comes home and accuses me of cheating on him with handsome straight men."

Sakyo laughed again, but got up from the table and let Harry escort him back to the front door.

"I saw that," Jin said, he was leaning on the frame of the kitchen door. "I got back from me flight about the time he asked why you didn't kill him back on the island," he continued, straightening up and padding his barely-shod feet across the wooden floor. "Just watched from the other door," he added, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

"And?" Harry asked quietly, looking his lover in the eye, unashamed of what he did, even if it was a bit unpleasant and amoral.

Jin offered a crooked smile for a moment before he wrapped his arms around Harry's shoulders and kissed him, very thoroughly. "And it was right _pleasant_ ta see you all in control an' dangerous like that," Jin answered, innuendo in his slightly breathless tone, when their lips finally released each other.

Harry laughed, delighted and amused, as he felt every hard plane of Jin's body pressed up against his own, and moved in for another kiss happily.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey Harry. Is Hiei here?" Kuwabara asked.

Harry blinked at the young man on his doorstep, Botan and Kurama both waiting just behind him, tense expressions on their faces. "Yes," he answered. "He's in his room cleaning his sword."

"We need him for a rescue mission," Botan interjected, voice frantic.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought he only agreed to _one_ mission?" he asked, even as he pulled out his wand and muttered a spell. "Hiei, there's trouble they need your help with," he said to the silvery mist pooling out of his wand, and then it was a full, silvery stag that rushed up the stairs through the house.

Hiei came down those stairs moments later.

"That was the strangest messenger I have ever seen," he informed the wizard.

Harry shrugged.

"Where is the Detective?" Hiei asked, noting the teen's absence.

"He's the one we need your help to rescue," Botan explained.

This time Hiei was the one to shrug, but he stepped out of Harry's front door to join them all the same.

"Call if you need help or potions," Harry reminded them. "Otherwise, I'm going assume that my skills are superfluous to requirements and stay home for this one. You _do_ have a way to call me if I'm needed, right?"

Kurama reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out the magic mirror that Harry had given him a couple of weeks after they'd returned from the Dark Tournament – 'just in case' had been his reasoning, and now it was proving out.

"Good," Harry said with a nod of recognition. "Now, if you will excuse me, I left Jin all tied up in our bedroom."

"_Way_ too much information," Kuwabara complained, backing away quickly.

Kurama and Hiei just smirked, each one imagining tying up the other even though, a _month_ after the Tournament, they still had neither one made any sort of romantic overture towards the other.

Hiei returned in the small hours of the morning and at breakfast explained what he knew of what was going on – as well as his disinclination to participate. He had his record cleared already and saw no particular point in helping either side in this fight as he was able to be equally content with either result.

A couple of days later, Kurama used the magic mirror.

The bad guys had kidnapped _Kuwabara_, intending to use his power to slice open the kikai barrier that kept the more powerful demons from passing through to the Human World. The Detective was in pursuit already, but would probably need backup before any of _them_ could reach him, as, apart from anything else, they were collecting more back-up for storming the cave where the tunnel was being created.

Hiei had been the one to answer the mirror's ringing – Harry never kept it with him when he was in his potions lab for fear of being distracted and making a mistake – and once he'd decided for himself that he would chase after the Detective and make sure he lived long enough to save his friend, he took the mirror into the lab so that Kurama could explain the situation again, this time to Harry.

Hiei left while Harry was searching for a bit of paper to write directions down on. He managed to reach the Detective in time to save him from being blown up by a petrol tanker – as well as stop the further destruction of some really very pleasant forested area, enjoy the smell of his home world for a while, get in a good fight with the Detective that was _well_ overdue, and motivate the Spirit Detective in just the way he needed so that he was ready for his next _important_ fight at the same time.

Then the Detective suggested that he'd be able to get the Chapter Black tape when everything was over, what with the likelihood of post-averted-apocalypse-confusion allowing the 'right' people to forget to retrieve the tape. It was a very tempting offer.

"You're quite clever when you put your mind to mischief," Hiei complimented. Then he noticed something else. "Hey," he said, turning slightly to actually look at the approaching _things_. "Friends of yours?" he asked sarcastically.

"I assumed they were yours," the Detective countered. Then they landed. "Woah! Somebody needs a breath mint!" the teen commented.

Silently, Hiei agreed.

"We're new to town," said the taller of the two that had just landed in front of them.

"We've come to plunder your puny world," added the shorter. "Show us your women and your human flesh depositories."

"As you can tell, we're hungry in more ways than one!" quipped the taller in what it probably thought was a menacing way.

"Then I guess that means that Mushiyori City has progressed to stage three," Hiei commented, recalling the explanation he'd still been present for after they'd rescued the Detective from a learning experience. "I believe these demons are _technically_ classified as 'weak and ugly'," he added blandly, completely unconcerned and aware that the human beside him was _equally_ so when faced with these things that were three times as tall as the teen.

"Who you callin' ugly?" demanded the taller.

"Get a load of this one," growled the shorter incredulously. "He doesn't even have a single beauty wart on his face."

"Detective," Hiei said, looking over at the boy. "I believe we have finally stumbled across a _very_ good reason for me to help."

Yusuke raised both eyebrows questioningly.

"If we don't defeat Sensui, we'll be overrun by these vermin disgraces to the demon race," Hiei said, slowly becoming more viscous in tone as he spoke. "And I would _not_ enjoy that," he added with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, me neither," Yusuke agreed, though his tone indicated that he wouldn't enjoy it for _different_ reasons.

"I'm going to enjoy eating you!" the larger of the two ugly creatures yelled as he and his friend charged.

An action that only proved how very weak they were. It only took one strike to kill each of them – Yusuke using his fist, Hiei his sword.

"As much as I hate humans, I think I _loath_ _tourists_ even more," Hiei commented as they started walking. They ran into the rest of the group – Genkai, Botan, Kurama, two of the boys who'd helped 'kidnap' the Detective, and a shadow that was slowly growing bigger right in the middle of their group. A shadow that belonged to Harry, who raised an eyebrow at Urameshi's lack of shirt even as he put his broomstick into one of the expanded pockets of his dragon-hide coat.

"Don't tell me that my lack of shirt offends you," Yusuke complained.

"It doesn't look professional, is all," Harry countered as he pulled out his wand, then conjured a plain white t-shirt. It wasn't exactly a professional look either, but it was better than being completely shirtless. Then he turned to Botan. "Do you have something for me from Koenma, by any chance?"

The girl looked confused, and shook her head.

"Oh well, it _was_ a long-shot," Harry answered, mildly frustrated but not too worried about it.

Then there was a briefing and re-cap of what they knew and quick planning session. Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama would be the advance party, going into the cave to attack first, and would be guided through the maze by Mitari, who had changed sides. Then it was all of them off to Demon's Door Cave.

The entrance to hell was drearier than Hiei had expected.

"It should take us two hours to reach Itsuki, provided there aren't any delays," Mitari said when the Detective asked how long it would take to reach their goal.

"What!? Then what are we waiting for?" the Detective demanded.

"You to stop talking," Hiei answered.

"Let's go," Yusuke said through git teeth. "Now."

They got almost those full two hours in only to be told they had to turn back and get another three – they had to have seven people to get through the first of the psychic's territories that they came across.

Of all their options, they left Yanagisawa and Botan out by the truck. They had their 'team of seven heroes' that the game required: the original four who'd gone in plus Genkai, Kaido and Harry.

"Before we approach the door, I suggest we develop a strategy," Kurama said as they walked back through the tunnels. "Who among us has played 'Goblin City' before?"

"Ooh, I have! I have! All the time!" Yusuke said happily, even sticking his hand up and waving it like a teacher's pet in class.

"I as well," Kaido said, much more calmly.

"I've played it from time to time too," Mitari put in.

"That makes four, including myself," Kurama said.

"Make that five," Genkai quipped.

"We're not talking 'Pong' here, Grandma," Yusuke commented lowly.

Harry whacked the kid upside the head. "Do you even remember that huge room of arcade games she has?" he asked the kid.

"I haven't been playing 'solitaire' for the last fifty years," Genkai added with a smirk.

"Excellent," Kurama said. "Now among us, who has actually _beaten_ the game?"

"I'm kinda hung up in the middle somewhere," the Detective admitted sheepishly.

"Twice," Genkai said.

"On my console at home, I win approximately seventy-six percent of the time," Kaido supplied, then smirked and looked sidelong at Kurama. "Though I'm sure that's no comparison with the 'Great Shuichi', is it?" he asked.

"No, that's about my skill level," Kurama admitted. "Still, those scores were all against the _real_ 'goblin king', the Game Master must be much better."

"Or else why would he choose this game to recreate in his territory?" Kaido suggested.

"Exactly," Kurama agreed.

"Question," Harry put in. "What happens to this game's bad guy when you win?" he asked seriously.

"If you win, then..." Kurama's eyes went wide. "The rules of his territory are the rules of the game, and he must obey them as well... Oh dear. _That's_ why this game was chosen. I wager Sensui picked it."

"What?" Yusuke asked. "What am I missing?"

"Yes, please do share with the rest of the class," Kaido quipped a little sourly.

"I don't play a lot of games," Harry said, "but I _do_ know that the basic plot for anything that's going to sell will see the hero triumphantly standing over his enemy's _corpse_ at the end. _You_ know from your own experience, Kaido-san, that even the creating psychic must obey the rules of his or her territory when they have it active. If this kid says that the rules of his territory are the rules of the game, then... Mitari-san, how old would you say this Game Master is?"

"Ah... about ten?" Mitari guessed. "Maybe twelve?"

"Then he most likely anticipates us continuing to 'reset' the game and playing forever, this way, no one dies. If we win though, which we need to in order to reach the tunnel and Kuwabara, then the kid has to die," Harry explained. "Or he anticipates throwing the game when it's too late, but hasn't factored in his own death, believing himself too young to be able to die, as many children do."

"_What_?!" Yusuke objected.

"Is that permission?" Hiei asked.

Harry shook his head. "No Hiei," he answered. "It has to be within the rules of the game. We can only kill the kid by winning."

Then they had reached the door.

"I nominate Kurama to explain it to the kid," Urameshi grumbled. "He's the one who could charm _Hiei_ into coming to _Kuwabara's_ rescue, after all. Still, I really don't like the idea of having to justify killing a little kid."

"Very well," Kurama agreed solemnly.

In the end, it was Kurama who played the killing round of the game too, though Genkai played a _very_ impressive fighter pilot round, and Mitari rattled the brat's armour a little bit after his tennis match. Of course, the kid was still _confident_ before his game against Kurama, who used the real reason Sensui had asked the boy to delay them with _this_ game to scare the kid so bad his concentration failed and he lost badly because of it.

Harry nudged Hiei awake – the demon's only concession towards playing games was Jacks, which required hand-eye coordination and speed, but more importantly Yukina liked playing it _with_ him – and briefly explained how it turned out.

"Kurama, don't blame yourself," Yusuke said haltingly as he approached his team-mate, guessing incorrectly the reason for Kurama having not moved from his place.

"I have no regrets, Yusuke," Kurama informed the Detective, and his eyes were angry as he started to walk off down the tunnel.

Harry raced forward to grab his shoulder. "Physically, there's nothing wrong with the kid," he said quietly. "Like with Kaido's power, his soul has just been ripped from his body. More violently, and it's been thrown to Spirit World a fair bit faster, but... Look, because the only thing that caused his death were the rules of his own psychic powers it might be possible to reverse. It wasn't something I could have done for your mother if she died of her illness, because it was destroying her body from the inside, but..."

Kurama paused, and a little bit of the tension, the anger, eased from his frame. Just a little bit though. He still held Sensui fully responsible for putting a _child_ in that situation, and likewise forcing it on them as well.

"Do you want me to try?" Harry asked.

Kurama nodded silently, just once, but it was enough.

Harry gave a gentle pat on Kurama's shoulder and nodded to himself before going to stand over the kid that was dead of no apparent causes on the ground beside a game console.

The main not-so-merry band of heroes continued on through the caves. Mitari leading the way and Kurama leaving lamp weeds behind him.

Harry took up the stance to use the spirit wave as Genkai had taught it to him, and while he gathered his energy, the old woman took up position on the other side of the kid in the same stance.

"Days like this, I can almost be glad that the Resurrection Stone is permanently attached to me," Harry grumbled as the ring faded into view on his hand as he held it over the kid. He really wasn't all that fond of the tacky ring and the rock attached to it, but it wouldn't come off. It wasn't like the Elder Wand which he could keep in a box in his room, or his Invisibility Cloak which was on a coat-hangar between his white-collar shirts and his winter jackets.

"Only _almost_?" Kaido asked, surprised.

Harry chuckled lowly and bitterly. "Even if it's for the best reasons, I still have a few issues from my past that load me with a prejudice or two when it comes to bringing dead people back to life," he answered, thinking of Voldemort rising from that cauldron in the graveyard, and _not_ being able to save his godfather, or any of the other people he'd cared about who'd died because of that stupid war. "No offence meant to _you_ of course Genkai," he added.  
"Huh, none taken," the old woman grunted.

"That should do it," Harry declared a moment later, ending the technique and stepping back.

Kaido bent over the kid and sought out a pulse, which he found without too much difficulty.

"I'm going after them," Harry informed them both. "Are you coming, or going back?"

"We'll retreat to be the next line of defence," Genkai answered. "Besides, Yana and Botan are probably quite worried by this time."

Harry nodded, and followed after the lamp weeds that Kurama had left behind, creating a spell as he jogged after them to let them know the kid was fine. As his patronus galloped ahead through the tunnels, Harry wished he could jump on its back and ride rather than have to run. Ride. Dammit again. Harry stopped and pulled out his broomstick. After all, he _had_ used it to catch up with everybody else in the first place, and it wasn't like brooms suddenly failed to work just because he wasn't outside any more – the Twins' grand escape from Hogwarts and the UmBitch in his fifth year was proof enough of _that_.

He followed the lamp weeds and caught up with the others fast enough to hear an unfamiliar voice that was speaking with such self-assured authority that it _had_ to be the man in charge.

"C-class apparitions are like seeds: abundant and worthless, but one of every hundred grows into a B-class with brains and strength that can easily surpass that of a human," the man was saying as Harry dismounted from his broom and tucked it back into his expanded pocket before he walked around the last corner. "Want to tell us _first hand_, Hiei and Kurama?"

Neither replied.

"And then from the B-class a handful take the next big leap. Intellect close to omnipotence, bodies of huge size and power, creatures fit for human legend like the titans of Greek mythology," the man continued.

"I'm getting really tired of hearing you talk," Yusuke said.

"They are the A-class demons. They're probably watching us right now from the pits of Demon World, waiting for their chance to rise to glory," the man – it _had_ to be Sensui, really. No underling would be permitted to talk that much at this point.

"Spare me. You're going to kill people you were supposed to _protect_!" Yusuke objected.

"My job was to protect the universe as a whole, and that's _exactly_ what I'm doing. I've been trying to enlighten you, Yusuke," the man said, and turned away to stare up at the tunnel. "Don't you remember the Doctor's words? Humanity is a _disease_."

"Can't you do this debate thing after you're done saving me?" Kuwabara demanded through his gag.

"Certainly," Harry answered, having finally reached the rest of the group. "Accio Kuwabara Kazuma," he called forcefully, wand out.

The boy screamed through the gag as he was pulled from the flimsy little boat by an intangible power and rushed through the air without any control. Harry stepped aside just as Kuwabara would have crashed into him, and grabbed at the ropes that held him bound, putting the breaks on and making sure the kid didn't face-plant into the dirt _too_ hard.

"Killing humans can't be that horrific to _you_, Yusuke. You'd have killed the Doctor if Genkai hadn't been there, and Kurama killed a human child," Sensui said, put-out but not put _off_ by Kuwabara's sudden and unexpected rescue.

Harry conjured a knife and handed it to Mitari to start cutting Kuwabara out of the ropes.

"We _had_ to," Yusuke answered. "It was for the greater _good_."

Harry had to resist the urge to hit the kid for using those two words together as an _excuse_, but it was more true for Urameshi Yusuke than it had ever been for Albus Bloody Dumbledore.

"And what if every human was bad?" Sensui asked, looking over his shoulder at them all.  
"I don't deal in 'what ifs'," Yusuke answered firmly.

"I've got one though," Harry said, stepping forward. "I want to know _what_ you would have done _if_ I hadn't taken your hostage from you," he asked, gesturing to where Kuwabara was sitting on the ground, wigging one of his hands to get the feeling back into it while Mitari continued cutting the _rest _of the ropes.

"Mr Makihara," Sensui called.

The large man standing in the boat that Kuwabara had been magically tugged from grunted in acknowledgement and leapt to the shore.

"I'd have said that if you could kill Mr Makihara I'd give Kuwabara back to you, unharmed. You've already achieved that objective, so I will simply say that if you want to fight _me_, then you must first defeat _him_," Sensui said, a smirk on his face.

"What?" Yusuke asked confused.

"That's Gourmet," Mitari said, slightly terrified as he kept on cutting away the ropes.

"Does he cook?" the Detective quibbled.

Gourmet smirked, frowned, and started to walk towards them. When he stopped, he proceeded to demonstrate that he'd eaten someone else that the Detective knew already. A mind-reader.

"I'll take this one Yusuke," Kurama said, his hand on Yusuke's shoulder and his expression dangerous. "Don't argue. I am _not_ in the mood."

"Um... Okay?"

It was a swift and tidy decapitation that surprised a lot of people. What surprised Urameshi even more than that was when Kurama bid _Toguro_ come out.

Kuwabara had suffered through being held captive by Toguro's powers through Gourmet's body, and Hiei had the same superior sense of smell that Kurama did. Mitari didn't understand the significance. Harry just wished he'd gotten that permission notice from Spirit World that would allow him to use the killing curse on this guy as that irritating laugh sounded out.

The creepy little man's head appeared out the top of Gourmet's sliced off head, and happily, _insanely_ monologued of how the circumstances had come to be – with just a small but equally unhinged interjection from Sensui.

"That is enough," Kurama said lowly, cutting off the crazed demon's laughter. "You've survived for far too long, and now it ends."

"And how do you propose to do that?" the vile man asked. "Lord Potter," he sneered as the name passed his lips, "has an idea, but he's not allowed to use it! He needs special permission that hasn't come yet."

"Is this true?" Hiei asked Harry softly.

"It is. I could use the killing curse on an animal I intend to eat, and I'd _still_ get a life sentence for having used it at all. I was hoping Koenma might be able to get me permission, but he made no promises and has clearly not been able to come through on it," Harry answered with a shrug, promising himself to work harder on his occlumency when he got back home. He could do the _other_ mind-magic spells, it was just _that one_ kept giving him trouble. He blamed Snape. "No biggie. He's pissed off Kurama. He won't be walking away from _this_."

"Hmm," Hiei agreed with a small smirk as Toguro charged the red-head, only to be enveloped in a smoke screen.

"Simple, but effective," Harry complimented with a nod.

A few moments later, Kurama emerged from the haze, completely unharmed while the screams of Torugo could still be heard – demanding to know why Kurama wouldn't die. Once the smoke screen had dispersed and Toguro was revealed, Kurama was kind enough to explain when and how he'd planted the seed of the plant that was holding Toguro captive, as well as just what it was.

"Uh, Kurama? If I ever pissed you off, I'm sorry," the Detective said.

"Yeah, me too," both Mitari and Kuwabara chorused nervously.

"And your _next_ stalling tactic?" Yusuke called out to Sensui, regaining his focus on the mission once more. "Because I _know_ you have one."

The man frowned, but turned to his green-haired companion and said something quietly.

The movement of a shadow to their left drew Hiei's attention, and he in turn drew Kurama's attention (and everybody else's by association) to it. The odd thing was that this shadow had no source... okay, the odd thing was that it suddenly had a mouth that appeared beneath them all, which it opened, causing all of them to fall in before they could otherwise react.

Yusuke was spat back out so that he could fight Sensui, and the green-haired demon by his side, Itsuki, joined the rest of them within the ancient demon who had been swallowing human garbage for a _very_ long time. His _pet_, apparently, which he'd called Uraotoko. It seemed that Itsuki was a bit special himself, a yamanate demon.

On top of that, he was a bit special in the head, and in much the same way Sensui was, but at least he was willing to let them _watch_ the fight, even if he wasn't going to let them participate.

"He's essentially treating his energy like a football," Harry said blankly when he saw Sensui's attack for the first time. "He can claim all the fancy names and say he's trained in all sorts of techniques as much as he wants. That is a _football_ kick. One that the pros would be proud of, granted, but still a football kick. And frankly, I'm waiting for the tough, street-fighting kid to go for the soft spot between those long legs of his."

The fight went from bad, to hopeful, and then to worse and crazy on top of it. And then Koenma showed up. He had a really quite stupid plan, but he bought Urameshi enough time to heal up and stop him from executing said stupid plan.

Unfortunately, they couldn't stop Urameshi from executing _his_ stupid plan. A plan which revealed that the elder Toguro didn't have a monopoly on insane laughter, and that the younger Toguro wasn't the only one hiding an ace up his sleeve.

For that matter, Koenma made a good effort of pulling an ace as well. The problem was that, as he didn't exactly have a lot of practice with using his last resorts, he didn't entirely succeed. Sensui was _somewhat_ weakened, and the demons who were crowding the front of the tunnel were all vaporised, but the _human_ with his sacred energy ultimately bested the power that was meant for stopping really powerful _demons_. Sensui diverted the power up so that it made a large hole in the roof too, probably lit up the sky like a firework since it _clearly_ had gone all the way through.

Kuwabara _did_ manage to use a new version of his spirit sword to get them out of Itsuki's pet though, so that was good. It was just... they were a bit late. Harry couldn't help but frown at the way Urameshi used the same tactic for _them_ that the younger Toguro had on him in the last round of the Tournament – death of a friend to inspire them to reach new levels of power. No one else was all that impressed with his plan either. Still, unsavoury as it was, it had worked.

The moment of denial passed, with Harry even fixing up Urameshi's corpse (like fixing that broken arm and closing up the various holes in his flesh) to make Kuwbara feel a bit better, but their young, thick-headed friend was gone.

"Are any of you brave enough to lead the way?" Sensui asked. "Attempt to finish what your late friend could not?"

"Sure," Kuwabara answered. "Bravery's the only thing we've got left."

Hiei uncovered his Jagan eye and unwrapped the bandages that hid the dragon on his arm. Kurama transformed into the more powerful body of his previous life. Both charged. Kuwabara wasn't far behind.

Harry hesitated only long enough to give Koenma a restorative. The godling wasn't doing to well after all. That brief pause was long enough for Hiei to call up his dragon of the darkness flame.

"Here's a one-way ticket for you straight to hell, you bastard!" the small demon yelled as he continued charging forward.

"That's one for the pensive," Harry muttered to himself before he took out his broomstick and flew after them into the tunnel.

They reached the kikai barrier, and Sensui was there, unharmed and just _waiting_ for them like an arrogant _prick_ on the other side. The barrier only stopped _demon_ energy of A-class proportions and up. That meant Hiei's dragon couldn't pass through, and for that matter, it meant that Hiei and Kurama themselves couldn't reach the man they wanted to kill – Kurama had tested it to make sure, and confirmed that they were definitely trapped on the Living World side.

"The only way you'll reach me is if you cut a hole in the barrier," Sensui teased with a smirk. It was _his plan_ for Kuwabara to destroy the barrier after all. If the boy did it, then he would have succeeded.

"Wrong," Hiei said firmly. "Harry."

"Accio Sensui," Harry growled, waving his wand appropriately for the spell.

"What is this?" Sensui asked, shocked as he was pulled _back_ though the barrier.

"Vengeance," Kurama growled, just before he attacked.

It was strange, fighting in the pseudo space, and frustrating that every few _seconds_ Harry had to summon Sensui back through the barrier so that they could keep on fighting him. It didn't take long for Kuwabara to just slice the barrier through so that they could chase after him rather than having to wait for Harry to summon him back. So much for stopping the apocalypse, but as they chased after Sensui – and they chased him all the way into Demon World – it felt more important that this _one person die_ than the entire world be properly protected.


	14. Chapter 14

Sensui was winning, despite the odds against him. He dodged Harry's spells, deflected Kuwabara's sword, countered Kurama's plants and rebuffed Hiei's fire. He was wearing them down, even with Harry also flying around to the others of the team with restorative potions whenever he saw one of them with time enough to breathe and drink it down. They were all starting to look a bit ragged though; anything made of cloth was torn, and even Harry's dragon-hide coat was looking a few years more worn than it had that morning.

Then the potions ran out.

"Any last words?" Sensui asked as he stood before them all where they were panting on the ground, flexing his 'sacred' energy.

Harry forced himself up. "Spirit reflection blast!" he cried, taking hold of the man's power and forcing it to twist and attack its source. He'd been using nothing but magic for this fight, and had kicked himself mentally when he felt his magical core sputter pathetically. Magically, he was exhausted; physically, he felt like he'd spent a day under Genkai's stern and demanding eye. He hadn't even _touched_ his reserve of spirit power.

The attack finally pushed Sensui back a bit. It even put a good-sized dent in his 'sacred armour'.

"What are you?" the man demanded. "_Who_ are you?"

Harry smirked. "Does that mean you're done giving speeches and it's someone else's turn now?" he asked.

"Please," Sensui answered. "It will give your friends a chance to catch their breath, what little good it will do them."

"I fought my whole life against narrow-minded prejudice that claimed _what_ you were defined _who_ you were. I fought the people who claimed that blood-purity was important." Voldemort, the Malfoys, the Lestranges, the Dursleys. "I fought the people who claimed power was something only certain people were _entitled_ to have." Umbridge, Fudge, Ron. "I fought the people who happily attacked a couple on their wedding day." Greyback, Crouch, McNair. "I fought the people who self-righteously believed that it was their _right and duty_ to decide who was good and who was evil." Dumbledore, Snape, Hermione. "I fought people who thought I should be a slave to _their_ plans. I fought the people who didn't care who's lives they ruined as long as they achieved their own goals." All of the above, and more.

"Why?" Sensui asked. "Why then do you fight _me_ now? My aims would put an end to all of that."

"Because you're one of those people, and worse, you're someone who believes in _fate_. You're one of the bastards who believes in _destiny_. You have no idea how much I hate people using that word to justify piling shit onto other people." Harry answered lowly. "I fought against people who thought they had the right to decide who would get to live to see the next day, and who deserved to die."

"Isn't that what you are doing though?" Sensui asked. "When you fight against them?"  
Harry shook his head. "I never claimed I wasn't a bit of a hypocrite, but at the same time I'm not. Not really," he answered. "Because _my_ philosophy on the matter is a little _different_ to yours. For one, I don't believe in fate. The only thing every person is will do some day is die. For some of us it even happens more than once," he added with a smirk. "For me, it has never been about my opponent _deserving_ to die. No one _earns_ death," he stated with a fierce scowl, "though some people have _asked_ for it. I'm not a Spirit Detective who's job it is to protect the world and all the people on it. I'm not a mindless killer who sees my own species as play-things, chess pieces, or a disease to be cured. I'm a _war_ _veteran_, despite my age. I am Lord Harry James Potter, knight of her Majesty the Queen of England, and I am a _teacher_. A person who works every day to improve the world and help the people around me rather than just saying 'it was meant to be this way' and doing _jack_ to change it."

"You know, if you got a job at my school, I might actually go to class," a voice called down.

"It can't be..." Sensui breathed in shock as he – and everybody else – snapped their heads up to see who had spoken.

"I'm sorry I got delayed, traffic was a bitch," Yusuke said from where he was on the back of a giant bird with Koenma. "But I'm back, and I'm ready to finish this!"

"That must be Puu," Harry commented to himself as the bird came in to land. "That's what Yusuke's spirit energy looked like when he took off those spirit cuffs after all... Spirit cuffs!" Harry yelped quietly, then slammed a hand over his face. "I completely forgot about those. This whole fight, I've been wearing spirit cuffs. Well, no point taking them off _now_ I guess, since Yusuke will want to finish off his own fight," he grumbled in English as the bird touched down.

"Impossible," Sensui breathed as Yusuke and Koenma hopped off Puu's back and onto the ground.

"Is that him?" Hiei asked softly, not completely able to believe his eyes.

"But... how?" Kurama wanted to know.

"Some friends you are," Yusuke said as he walked up to them. "Ditchin' a guy while he's down and then hogging the bad guy all to yourselves. I gotta admit I'm disappointed in you jerks," he said, his tone and expression serious, but they all knew the teen well enough by now to know when he was teasing. "But did you honestly think I'd just _lie_ there and let you fight my battles for me?" he demanded rhetorically as he stopped and stood in front of them all. "Give me a break."

"Urameshi?!" Kuwabara yelled. "But... but you were definitely dead! Your heart stopped beating, I double checked!"

"Yeah, I can't explain that," Yusuke answered frankly, dropping the false anger at his friends completely. "In fact, my ticker is _still_ not ticking. I guess I should be worried, huh?"

Hiei and Kurama both had to bite down on laughter, small stifled sounds escaping, growing in volume and size until they couldn't be repressed and the two burst out in roaring, gut-busting laughter. Harry joined in, chuckling, and even Yusuke sounded out a cheeky little 'tee-hee' of his own.

"You'll get used to that," Kurama said when he calmed down. "You see, _demon_ hearts don't beat in the conventional _human_ sense," he explained.

"Demon?!" Kuwabara asked, confused.

"Yes, _demon_," Koenma answered, walking up to join them. "Yusuke has had dormant blood inside him, _Mazoku_ blood, which explains a few things _I'd_ say."

"Like... having a head that doesn't get cracked when put up against another skull that easily dents cement?" Harry asked. "Because if you're going to start blaming the Detective's behaviour on his blood then I'm going to have issues with _you_."

"Potter here _isn't_ a believer in _nature_ over _nurture_," Hiei simplified.

"Yes, you missed the beginning part of his speech, it was very enlightening," Kurama added.

"Does it explain how you're not dead again?" Kuwabara asked.

"Funny story," Yusuke answered. "See, one of my ancestors way back was this 'Masoku' guy, and so when I died I was able to come back, but like him."

"So you really are a demon!" Kuwabara said, flinching away in surprise.

"Transmigration, the atavism of the Mazoku," Sensui observed, stunned himself.

"That's right," Koenma confirmed.

"I had no idea you were one of us Yusuke," Hiei said, a small smile on his face. "How does it feel to be so superior?"

"Uh, honestly? I don't really feel all that different now," Yusuke said, going cross-eyed for a moment as he tried to figure out if he actually _did_. "I mean, I haven't sprouted horns or extra eyes yet," he added, looking over his person.

"I think your abs might be a bit more defined," Harry offered.

"Should I tell Jin you were looking at the Detective's abs?" Hiei asked quietly.

Harry just smirked silently in response.

"I _do_ have this sudden, burning desire to tear _this_ guy to _pieces_ though," Yusuke said, smiling wickedly as he looked over at where Sensui was still standing. "So how about it Sensui? Ready to feed some worms?"

"Back off Yusuke," Hiei said softly, lowly. He was standing again though, which was an improvement. It even looked like his energy was back, the way it flared around him. "We're in the middle of something and I've suddenly discovered my second wind."

"No Hiei," Kurama put in, also on his feet once more and with his hovering energy thickly in the air. "I will take him."

"What is this, a prom date dispute?" Yusuke asked. "I'm sure Sensui's flattered by the popularity and all but this is _my_ _fight_. I hate to say it Kuwabara, but you're the only one acting sane."

"I hope you forgot I was here when you said that," Harry quipped.

Yusuke grinned and held up his hands apologetically. "Sorry Potter-sensei! Yes, for a moment I had!" he admitted.

"I'm ready!" Kuwabara cried, standing up with a grin on his face and the glow of his own spirit energy extending for almost an inch past his skin – nothing to the auras of Hiei and Kurama, but it was better than he'd been before. "And better than ever! Stand back, 'cause I can kick his butt myself!"

"You do realise he'll be kicking back," Hiei pointed out flatly, unimpressed.

"Shut up! And after him, you're next!" Kuwabara yelled.

"There won't be a 'next'," Hiei answered.

Harry smiled. It was just like the day those two first met. It was kind of cute, the way they had set the tone back then and kept in it ever since, while still developing a respect for each other. Probably a good thing Kuwabara wasn't still trying to win Yukina's love though. It really was nostalgic as the two prodded at each other and Hiei dodged Kuwabara's fist so that the boy fell down, Yusuke laughing and Kurama watching on with an amused tilt to his lips. Some things were different, but the behaviour was still the same as it had ever been. Then they all got serious and focused on Sensui again.

"I sense how strong you've all become, and I appreciate your help, but I need to finish this alone," Yusuke said, talking to them even as he faced his foe. "Okay?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at them all.

Kuwabara grinned. Kurama and Harry both nodded.

"Knock him dead, Urameshi Yusuke," Hiei said. "But if you fail, know that we will take over the fight again."

Yusuke smirked and nodded in thanks, then walked away from them towards Sensui, who was also now walking towards him, though with a far less pleased expression on his face. At some unseen signal, they took off, and so did the fighting and destruction. It seemed that Yusuke's aim was off too.

"Right, we're getting off the battlefield," Harry said firmly, taking out his broomstick and taking off.

Kuwabara and Koenma hopped on Puu's back, and Kurama used a plant to create a pair of wings he could hover and glide with. Hiei considered his options for a brief moment before leaping up to take hold of one of Puu's feet, then climbed up onto his back with Koenma and Kuwabara.

The two combatants moved their playing field to a more open area, and then things got _really_ dangerous. Crazy amounts of power that caused sand storms and tornadoes, and Urameshi screaming for no reason that anyone could see.

Harry, as the one with the least surface area to be buffeted and the most experience at flying despite poor weather conditions, went in for a closer look. Maybe not the wisest idea, but as much as he was a snake in lion's clothing, he was still a _bit_ of a Gryffindor after all these years. Of course, he would likely have been able to see the mass of crazy white hair from where he'd been with the others, but... if he'd stayed back he wouldn't have been able to hear the slight change in Yusuke's voice, or spot the small change in his eyes. It was hard enough from the distance that he _was_ maintaining, but if he could spot a snitch from all the way across the quidditch pitch, he could notice things like that too.

Provided he was looking for them. Certainly the others wouldn't have noticed the change in Yusuke's eyes. They were behind him, and there was a bit of a veil of hair in front of those eyes as well, which made it harder even for Harry.

Then the little bit of talking between combatants stopped and the fighting began. It was stupidly one-sided, moved around a lot, and was _fast_. Then Harry saw it. It was like watching a person shaking off the Imperious curse. Yusuke's eyes, his entire expression, changed. His voice lost that strange echo, and his hair was dark again as he chased after Sensui and started yelling at him to get up.

"Has your brain gone as fuzzy as your head?" Kuwabara asked. "We wanted him dead, and so did you."

"Whoever may have killed him, it wasn't me," Yusuke answered, voice a little bit frantic and slightly shaken.

"But we all saw you," Kuwabara countered.

"It looked like me 'cause it was my body, but it wasn't me in there when it happened. I mean it was, but it wasn't, do you understand?" Yusuke asked, and desperation joined with 'frantic' and 'slightly shaken'.

"PISS," Harry said.

"I beg your pardon? Piss?" Koenma asked.

"Post Imperious Stress Syndrome," Harry clarified. "The Imperious curse is one of the three Unforgivables. It robs a person of their free will. They're like a puppet to a puppet master, and depending how good that puppet master is, those around the victim would never know they were affected. Then the strings get cut. This generally happens in one of two ways. One: the puppet master lifting the curse when they no longer need their puppet any more. Two: the victim breaks free through their own strength of will, overcoming the curse. But after being released from the Imperious curse... well, how would _you_ react to realising that your body was out of your control, even for a little while? Especially if you did something while under the control of someone else that... well, let's go with 'had some significant meaning to the victim'," Harry explained.

"I don't think anyone put a curse on Yusuke though," Koenma pointed out.

Harry shrugged. "It's the same principle though," he answered softly.

"Hey, he's not dead!" Yusuke announced when Sensui coughed up a bit of blood. "Potter-sensei, do you have anything that can fix him up?"

"I used up everything I'd stuffed my pockets with, except for the skele-grow, a bit before you re-joined us," Harry answered. "And making a restorative takes time I'm fairly sure he doesn't have," he added gently.

"What about you Kurama?" Yusuke asked, turning to the other member of their party who might be able to help.

Kurama shook his head. "I might be able to make his last moments more comfortable, but that would be it," he admitted.

"That won't be necessary," Itsuki's voice said, and a portal into blackness appeared before them, revealing him standing there, eyes down-cast as he held himself sadly. "Please," he said as he stepped out of his portal to join them. "Just _let Shinobu go_," he requested of them.

"If I'm going to kill a human, even an evil one, it's at least got to be _me_ pulling the trigger," Yusuke objected, getting back up onto his feet. "I'll never know if I made that choice."

"Don't torture yourself," Itsuki advised. "Shinobu only had half a month left to live anyway. He was suffering from a rare and terminal disease. Dr Kamiya confirmed it, but even _he_ couldn't cure it. Any normal human would have given up long ago, but not Shinobu."

"I don't like your sense of humour," Yusuke growled once the shock had passed.

"It's not a joke, it's all true," Sensui confirmed weakly. "But I'm not making excuses for my loss. With that last attack of yours, Yusuke, you proved to be much stronger than I."

"But that wasn't even me!" Yusuke objected. "I had no control over my body. You and I, we aren't finished yet. I still need to know who's stronger!" Yusuke insisted, falling back to his knees to talk to the fallen man.

"Trust me," Sensui said, smiling a little through his pain. "Consciousness exists on many levels. Part of you that was ready to make the choice must have taken control, but it was _definitely_ you, a _demon_ you, who killed me."

"Dammit you're not listening to me!" Yusuke yelled in his face. "It wasn't me, I _can't_ be happy. I'll give you time to heal up. You take some painkillers now and we'll do it over," he insisted, pulling the man up by his tattered clothes.

"Only Yusuke would still want to fight a man after he's dead," Hiei complained. "Wake me when it's over," he requested and sagged against Harry, who he was standing next to.

Harry quickly brought up an arm to catch the small demon, and smiled down at him fondly. He really had worn himself out, and now the adrenaline that had been keeping him awake was running out. Harry fully expected Kurama to sag soon as well, and anticipating this, picked up Hiei and moved over to stand next to the fox-spirit so he could support both if he needed to.

They all listened to the dying man's last words, watched his life fade from his eyes, and let Itsuki take him away into the alternate dimension within his pet.

"If I still kicked his ass, why do I feel like _he_ won even though he's dead?" Yusuke grumbled.

"Because, in a way, he did," Kurama answered. "Sensui achieved the very thing he intended by initiating all of this."

"Question, Urameshi," Kuwabara said.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked, turning to face his friend.

"Don't you feel kinda weird?" Kuwabara asked, stepping closer, pointing as he did.

"Now that you mention it, there's something on my back that's been making it itch for a while," Yusuke answered, reaching back to scratch and grab at whatever it was. Only to find out it was his own hair. It was the first time he noticed all the tattoos on his body as well. "I must look like I've been playing around with an electric socket!" he exclaimed in shock as he stared at the changes.

"Now, that's _just_ what I said," Kuwabara supplied.

"That's just the physical resemblance to your ancestor rising to the surface, Yusuke," Koenma explained. "Though I'm beginning to suspect that he's still alive somewhere in this world."

The Detective frowned. "So then, _he_ must have been the one playing me like a puppet on a string during that last shot on Sensui," he said, recalling Harry's explanation of the Imperious curse and how that worked, and how it possibly applied to him.

"If by 'last shot' you mean giving off a big blast of energy that caused some serious turbulence for us in the air, throwing Sensui around _into_ stuff, treating him like a punching bag, jumping up and down on the wounds you'd made already, and hitting him so hard you broke the rock he was on top of before crushing his wind-pipe, throwing him into the air and _then_ firing your spirit gun," Harry supplied plainly, though not entirely without feeling.

"What?!" Yusuke yelped. "I don't remember any of that stuff until the firing my spirit gun bit!"

Harry nodded. "That's normal," he answered. "That was the point where your own will struggled free and you cut the strings, taking charge again. The rest was someone else's will, which totally supplanted yours, essentially shunting you so far to the back of your own mind that you couldn't even watch. When we get back to Living World – and yes, Detective, we _are_ going back, not hunting your ancestor down. Don't give me that look. I've been in your place before, so I _know_ what you're thinking. But right now there are a few people top-side who don't know you're not dead. _When_ we get back to living world I'll get out my potions books and make up a PISS potion, you will then drink _all_ of it. That should recover the memories of what you did and how while your ancestor was at the controls."

Yusuke grumbled. He _had_ been planning on hunting down his ancestor and giving him a fist to the face for hijacking his fight, but Potter had a point. He didn't know the guy's life story, but what he _did_ know of Potter set him as a pretty cool guy, especially for a grown-up. So when Potter talked, Yusuke actually tried to pay attention. He had a short attention-span working against him, but he gave it a go, and right now... Potter was reminding him that Keiko was probably worrying about him, that his mother was likely wondering where he'd disappeared to, that Kurama's mother was almost _definitely_ worrying about _him_, and then there was the whole thing about Demon World not really being the best place for Kuwabara to be hanging out in. Not to mention that he had no idea where to get anything to _eat_ around here, and after the day he'd had, he could really go for a good meal in his stomach.

"And the longer we stand around here, the harder it is likely to be to get back," Koenma said, adding his argument to Harry's. "My father's SDF soldiers may be many things, but lazy is _not_ one of them. While we've been stopping the bad guys here, they have no doubt been busy little beavers working on damming up the hole in the barrier and closing the tunnel."

"Right," Yusuke agreed. "Are you okay to carry Hiei back, Harry?" he asked. "Or would it be better for Puu to?"

Harry conjured a rope and strapped Hiei to his back with a smile on his face. "My broomstick isn't _meant_ to carry more than one, but that doesn't mean that it _can't_ if I need it to," he answered as he mounted it once more. "How about you Kurama?" he asked, turning to the fox spirit. "How far will that leaf carry you?"

"It will _carry_ me just fine," Kurama answered, smiling weakly. "I am less assured of my ability to _control_ my flight at this point however."

"I'll tow you then," Harry offered, conjuring another rope and holding it out to Kurama.

"Appreciated," Kurama said gratefully, and tied one end of the rope around his waist before offering it back to Harry and growing a new leaf that he could use to hold him aloft behind Harry's Firebolt.

"Alright. Guess that leaves us three riding Puu," Yusuke declared with a nod.

Kuwabara and Koenma both breathed a sigh of relief at this decision and joined Urameshi on the back of his spirit beast for the flight back home.

"Now, what's this about SDF?" Harry asked as they flew back into the pseudo-space.

"The Spirit World's Special Defence Force, my father's soldiers," Koenma answered. "Because of Yusuke's Mazoku blood, my father sent them to kill him – and make sure he stayed dead – at the same time as they were to close up the tunnel. One of them even attacked Mitari for no reason."

"Right," Harry growled in a way that sounded a _lot_ like Yusuke. "So they're _not_ going to be happy to see us."

"No," Koenma agreed. "As well as try and capture or kill Yusuke, I suspect that they will also attempt to arrest me. I _did_ disobey my father's orders after all."

"Harry, what are you planning?" Kurama asked.

Harry smirked and pulled out his wand. Then he cast the disillusionment charm over all of them.

"Hey, where'd everybody go?" Yusuke asked suddenly. "For that matter, where did _I_ go?"

"Well, if you can't see us, then they won't be able to either," Harry chirped happily. "I'll take the spell off once we're past the SDF guys."


	15. Chapter 15

"_That_," Harry said when he arrived back at his own front door and spotted the 'for sale' sign being planted in the font yard of the neighbours house (other side to the Minamino's), "is _most_ convenient. You guys go inside. I'm going to talk business with the real estate agent."

"You have any idea what he's thinking?" Yusuke asked Hiei as they stood on Harry's front step – Harry had promised a PISS potion (and man did that sound wrong to Yusuke's thinking), so the Detective was tagging along, even with the five pounds of extra hair, tattoos all over his body, badly torn jeans, one missing shoe, and the Chapter Black tape in Hiei's hands that very moment.

"No," Hiei answered. "Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to clean and sharpen my sword, then go back to sleep. Don't stand around out here looking stupid for too long, Detective. This is a nice neighbourhood."

Yusuke blinked at Hiei's back, stunned somewhat by that last comment. He looked over at Harry, talking to a slightly familiar real estate agent (though he couldn't for the life of him think _why_ just then), shrugged, and headed inside.

Yukina and Touya were in the lounge room playing cards and invited him to join them.

"You can tell us where all that hair came from at the same time," Touya suggested with a small smile.

Yukina giggled. "I'll bush and braid it for you," she offered, getting up from her seat to fetch the items she would need. "And I'm sure Harry-sensei has a shirt you can borrow as well. I'll ask Jin-san."

"Thanks," Yusuke answered, a little awkwardly. "Just no girly ribbons," he insisted as Yukina headed for the stairs.

Yukina just giggled in answer.

"So," Touya started, running cool, assessing eyes over the marks on Yusuke's body. "It seems there was something you weren't telling us all."

Yusuke snorted in amusement. "That's one way to look at it," he allowed. "Though hell, no one told _me_ either. I just found out last night that there's apparently some demon in my family tree, and when I died again last night his DNA brought me back."

Touya nodded. "An atavism," he noted softly. "Do you know what kind?" he asked. "I don't recognise the markings off the top of my head."

"According to Junior and the Tool Brigade that works for his dad, I'm a Mazoku," Yusuke answered with a shrug. "Don't suppose you have any idea of what that means for me?" he asked, not entirely hopeful.

Yukina returned then with a hairbrush, a plain blue hair elastic, and a white t-shirt. Jin was right behind her and settled into the couch near Touya.

"I would be able to reach better if you would sit on the floor please Yusuke-san," Yukina said.

Yusuke grumbled a little, but did as he was told.

"So, Mazoku," he prompted.

"That _is_ impressive," Touya said, "and it explains why I would not recognise the markings. The only other Mazoku I have ever heard of is King Raizen. It is said that he is a warrior without an equal in any of the three worlds, though the other two demon lords Yomi and Mukuro reputedly come close. Jin, have you heard anything else about the Mazoku?" Touya asked, turning to his friend slightly.

"The Mazoku have always been fighters," Jin said, thinking hard. "Toughest of the tough and damn near impossible to beat. That's one heck of a reputation to live up to Urameshi," Jin cautioned briefly before he went back to thinking about it.

"We might know more after you take that potion I mentioned," Harry said, finally joining them in the lounge room. "Good news," he announced. "I've bought the house next door. We can plan how to join the two buildings together later. It will be good to have more space to move around in, to say nothing of another bathroom. Maybe we can dedicate a room to training," he suggested as he flopped down onto the couch and snuggled up to Jin.

"Uh... not meaning to be rude or anything," Yusuke interjected. "But... that potion you were talking about?"

Harry nodded, gave Jin a quick peck on the cheek, and got up from the couch again.

"Should I be going too?" Yusuke asked.

Jin and Touya both shook their heads.

"Harry-sensei is very touchy about who gets let into his potions lab," Yukina answered from behind Yusuke. "Kurama-san can come and go as he likes, since Harry-sensei spent a couple of years teaching him how to make potions himself. Hiei-nii-san can go in, since he's really more interested in just watching the whole process than touching anything. The rest of us, Harry-sensei doesn't let past the door unless there's an emergency."

"Yukina-chan and I both alter the temperature of the world around us constantly. Usually no more than an inch past our skin, unless we make an effort otherwise, but even just that much can have an effect on Potter-sensei's potions and ingredients before they're finished," Touya explained.

"I'm too much of a distraction," Jin added with a cheeky grin.

Yusuke chuckled, amused by how unashamed Jin was of that statement. His laughter didn't last long though. He was still too new to the whole thing, still not adjusted. What did it mean to be a demon, anyway? Sure he knew a lot of demons, but they couldn't tell him any more than Keiko or Kuwabara could explain what being human meant. This sort of mess, he might ask Genkai about, but she was helping Koenma settle into his exile from Spirit World right now, since he'd be staying with her, and she had already agreed to take care of Puu for him, since his spirit beast was now huge and conspicuous.

"Thinking big thoughts?" Jin prodded. Literally. He poked Yusuke in the forehead, gently though, just to get his attention.

"How can I go back to a normal life now?" Yusuke asked. "I've got this something else inside me, and I need to figure out what it is, and I'm not... How do I even... I don't know what to do now," he admitted, sagging where he sat on the floor.

None of the other demons in the lounge room had any suggestions for him either.

Yukina silently tied off the end of the braid and pulled a white strip of cloth – clearly one of Hiei's bandannas that the fire demon used to hide his Jagan – and used it to shift the bits of hair that hung over Yusuke's face as she tied it around his forehead and hid the ends in the top of the braid.

The weighted silence was broken after a moment by the doorbell ringing.

Yukina went to answer it, and returned with Kurama and Shiori, each one carrying a pot of food.

"I understand you've been fighting all night Urameshi-san," Shiori said kindly. "And come back from the dead again," she added with an amused smile as she took in the marks all over Yusuke's bare chest and arms. "You must be hungry."

Yusuke smiled wearily, gratefully. "Yeah," he agreed. "I could eat. I should probably let my ma know what happened too..."

"Keiko called her at the first pay-phone she saw," Kurama answered. "Atsuko-san might cry a bit about losing you again when you get home, but you shouldn't have to explain much."

Yusuke nodded in understanding, got up from where he'd been on the floor, and followed Kurama out to the kitchen to sit down at the breakfast table and eat.

Shiori stayed behind with Jin, Touya and Yukina. "Kurama -" she had been getting used to calling her baby boy by the name he preferred rather than the name she'd given him when she first held him in her arms, "- said that Urameshi-san was now an S-class demon under Spirit World's classification. He said Toguro was a high B-class, and he himself was an A-class demon before he died and had finally achieved that power-level again..."

Jin whistled, impressed. "That's living up to the Mazoku reputation," he agreed quietly, "and that's with Urameshi not even properly adjusted to the different energy." Jin bounced up from his place on the furniture and grinned. "Let me take that," he said, holding out his hands to take the pot Shiori was still holding. "Think we should all sit down for a feed-up, maybe even we'll need a bit more when Harry finishes that potion he's making."

Shiori handed over the pot and they all adjourned to the kitchen where Yusuke was drinking the soup out of his bowl and Kurama was ladling more into a second bowl.

"For Hiei," the red-head explained as he took a spoon from one of the drawers and loaded up a small tray to take the meal and glass of water upstairs to Yukina's brother.

Shiori excused herself not long after that, having her own housework to keep up with, and would they kindly tell her son for her when he came back down? They would.

Just about all the food was gone when Harry emerged from his potions lab with the concoction for Urameshi. Touya and Yukina had disappeared off outside, either on a date or training. Kurama was still up with Hiei in his room, and Jin was getting all the juicy details of Yusuke's fight (pre-death) against Sensui from him, still sitting at the kitchen table.

"Here it is," Harry declared as he flopped into a free chair next to Jin and held out the potion vial to Yusuke. "You might want to toss it back like a shot rather than try tasting it," Harry warned.

"Gotcha," Yusuke agreed as he took it. He eyed it suspiciously for a moment, then popped the cork and tossed it back. "Man that was awful!" he declared with a shudder once he'd swallowed.

Then he shuddered again, brown eyes glazing slightly as he was reintroduced to the memories he hadn't made himself: the last part of his fight with Sensui. A third shudder, and he was himself again.

"I guess there's really something to the saying that if it tastes bad, it must be good for you," Yusuke commented as he finally put the empty vial down on the table. "That really worked. Thanks Potter-sensei."

"You're welcome," Harry said.

Jin got up to serve Harry the last of the soup that hadn't been eaten yet, set it in front of him with a spoon, and for a while they just sat together quietly.

"Potter-sensei," Yusuke started a little hesitantly, looking up from where he'd been studying the table-top while he thought. "I don't know what to do with myself. I don't think I even know what _normal_ is any more," he admitted. "I know I don't really even belong in this world any more, and I don't think I'd be able to stand going back to school again, not after all that's happened... Hell, even my _body_ feels off, and I'm _not_ satisfied with how that fight ended."

Harry chuckled darkly after swallowing a mouthful of his soup. "Well, before you start crying for the moon," he said, pointing his spoon at the kid.

"I thought only my ma said that," Yusuke commented wryly.

Harry snorted in amusement. "_Before_ you start crying for the moon, I suggest you make a list of your goals, priorities and hopes for the future. Koenma won't be giving you jobs for a while, since he's not in Spirit World to hand them out, so you're going to have to figure out how to keep _yourself_ busy."

"Got any paper?" Yusuke asked.

"Don't forget to put 'go another round with Jin' on that list o' yours," Jin said happily as Harry went to fetch paper and pen. "And ya promised Chu a rematch as well!"

Yusuke chuckled, a genuine smile finally coming back to his face. "Maybe I could ask Potter-sensei to get us back on Hanging Neck Island for a while, get everybody to line up who wants to fight me, and we can all have some fun."

Jin laughed.

"You work on that list," Harry said, setting paper and pen on the table. "I'm going to call Atsuko-chan. I get the feeling that going to school isn't going to do you any more favours. We'll pull you off, claim you're getting private tutoring at home. Since I'm a qualified teacher, I can be listed as your private teacher. Should save your mother some money too."

"Thanks," Yusuke said with a smile before he bent over the paper and slowly started writing, thinking hard about what his goals and priorities _were_ exactly. Apart from marry Keiko some day, that one didn't take any thought at all, and he wrote it down at the top of the list with a slightly dreamy smile on his face. Not that he noticed.

~oOo~

A week of 'private tutoring' with Potter-sensei passed for Yusuke, and he had to say, he liked it better than regular school. Right now, he was helping knock down the fence between the two houses Potter-sensei owned, and when that was done he'd help build up a bigger fence around the newly-joined back-yards. He'd been promised some introductory lessons in how to properly _fly_ using his energy with Jin in exchange, but they needed the walls a bit higher so the neighbours didn't spot the strange happenings first.

Harry had lamented, jealously, that _his_ energy wouldn't let _him_ fly unassisted.

"It might if you took off those spirit cuffs," Jin answered with a smirk. "But you're always forgettin' about 'em. How long have you had them on now anyway?"

Yusuke blinked in surprise. "Spirit cuffs? You mean like the old hag put on me just before she gave me her spirit orb?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "I asked her for a pair just before she advised Toguro kill Kuwabara to motivate you. I've been wearing them since," he answered.

"Why the hell didn't you take them off to fight Sensui?" Yusuke demanded, shocked but not actually angry. "I only had _my_ spirit cuffs on for a couple of days, and they really made a big difference."

Harry blushed and looked away from the boy. "I forgot about them."

"He's _always_ forgettin' about 'em," Jin quipped, teasing his lover with a smile. "But if that's when you got 'em, then you've been wearin' 'em for a bit over a month. Shouldn't you per'aps time to take 'em off?" he suggested.

Harry pushed back the cuffs of his shirt, and revealed the yellow glow of the cuffs around his wrists, the cuffs around his ankles also lighting up around the bottoms of his trousers. "I kinda like them though," he delayed.

"I'll hand-cuff you to the bed later if you like," Jin promised softly in Harry's ear.

Harry grinned. "I'll hold you to that," he growled back. Then he said the safe-word that would release the cuffs. The same safe-word that Yusuke had used before: "Abvitis."

It was like an explosion of spirit energy, and everybody in the whole city who was sensitive to such powers stumbled or was knocked down by the shock-wave that rippled over the city before it all rushed back to its source.

Hiei, Yukina, Touya and Kurama all rushed from where they had been to where Harry, Jin and Yusuke were.

"What the hell was that?" Hiei demanded.

"Harry takin' off the spirit cuffs he's been wearin' since the Dark Tournament," Jin answered from where the shock-wave had laid him out on the grass.

On the other side of the yard, also laid out on the grass, Yusuke just coughed as he tried to get his wind back.

"It's not over yet," Kurama said frantically, taking note of where Harry was standing, still as a statue, with his arms straight out at his sides and his energy a huge glowing aura around him. "Take cover!"

Touya quickly created a thick dome of ice over himself and Yukina to protect them. Hiei and Kurama ducked behind the largest tree in the garden and held onto it – and each other – tightly. Neither Yusuke or Jin were able to get up from the ground and even _think_ of finding cover before the next eruption of spirit energy came from Harry.

Thankfully, the second eruption didn't throw either of the demons around. It was bigger than the first, but actually more gentle. Certainly, the psychics all over were stumbling in surprise at the feel of it, but it wasn't pushing like the first wave had been. Harry's energy didn't coalesce into a recognisable shape like Yusuke's had at the Tournament either though, and did nothing more than retreat back to Harry after a while of floating around like a breeze.

Harry shook his head, making sure it was still attached to his body after that massive rush of power.

"Spirit cuffs for a month did _that_?" Hiei asked as he and Kurama walked out from behind the tree they'd taken refuge behind.

"It certainly was impressive," Touya agreed as the dome vanished from around himself and Yukina, and the two of them could stand up again.

"You wouldn't happen to remember how to _apply_ these spirit cuffs, would you Harry?" Kurama asked curiously.

"Aye!" Jin agreed with a grin. "I wouldn't mind me a pair of those for training with either!"

Harry chuckled. "Yes," he answered. "I remember."

"Emergency!" Botan's voice cried out as she barrelled towards them on her oar. "Super-powerful energy readings coming from this area! Unknown origin! And since the tunnel hasn't been completely closed yet -!"

"You didn't get those orders from Koenma," Yusuke countered as she landed, a frantic look on her face. "And King Enma sure as hell isn't employing me. Relax Botan," he said, waving her off. "It was just Potter-sensei."

"Potter-sensei?" Botan asked, turning in surprise, her pink eyes wide and blinking with shock.

Harry nodded. "I've been wearing spirit cuffs for the last month or so, and just took them off," he explained.

"Oh. Well... give a girl some warning next time! And be more careful. You could attract all sorts of demons by flaring your power like that!" Botan scolded.

"I did," Harry pointed out, gesturing to the other occupants of his garden. He was the only full human present.

"I think more demons would be running for the hills, Botan," Kurama reassured the girl kindly.

Botan pouted, but nodded anyway and left. She was back to being a simple grim reaper again, and had a duty to attend to.

Those remaining lined up for spirit cuffs, Yusuke and Yukina included. Yusuke had worn the things before, but only for a very short time. He'd just seen what wearing them for a _longer_ time could do, and even if he wasn't sure what he would _do_ with that kind of strength, it was still _awesome_. For her part, Yukina had really dedicated herself to being strong enough to take care of herself and those she cared about. She was more naturally inclined towards healing than attacking, but this training would help with both, simply by improving her general strength and stamina.

Harry reapplied the spirit cuffs to himself last, once he was sure _everybody_ had gotten used to moving around naturally with the cuffs on, then he hustled everybody inside for food.

An hour later, Harry, Jin and Yusuke were out in the garden again, working on the fence. It was nearly done when three strange demons showed up, all wearing the same robe-ish clothes, like a uniform, and all bald as a billiard ball. If they were wearing _plainer_ robes, normal humans might have mistaken these guys for monks. If their robes had been more garish, Harry would have suspected them of being wizards.

"Is there some reason you three just walked onto my private property without invitation?" Harry asked them lightly, not turning from his work on the fence – leaving his back exposed – even as Yusuke and Jin both turned to face the intruders.

"Our business is with the boy," stated the thick-set one. "He is to come with us."

"Touou," scolded the central baldy sharply. "Please excuse my colleague. It _is_ impolite of us to intrude without invitation but we have little time to act. I must explain all this very quickly."

"So talk," Yusuke instructed. "And talk _fast_."  
"We have come on a mandate from Demon World," the centre baldy stated. Then paused, to let that bit of information sink in.

"My friend said talk _fast_," Jin prompted lowly, wind beginning to swirl dangerously about his hands.

"I have come to tell you your destiny, and take you to the place where you _actually_ belong," the same guy said, his gaze fixed on Urameshi as he spoke in that measured tone, again pausing at the end of his sentence.

"You have a strange notion of 'quickly'," Harry commented absently over his shoulder as he continued working. "And I don't like fatalists who believe in things like 'destiny' and 'proper place'," he added, his tone more dangerous and low than before, and even though he hadn't moved, suddenly he seemed a lot more dangerous.

Suddenly, the three demons realised that this _human_ wasn't in the _least_ concerned about having three demons of unknown power at his back.

"Skip the who you are, and the how you got here, and just tell us why you came," Harry suggested cuttingly, still not turning from his task. "Specifically, why you came for our boy."

"Hey now, I'm interested to know who the heck they are and how they got here," Yusuke objected softly. "You do have a point though. I am _most_ interested in what the heck they want me for."

"There is someone in Demon World who is most anxious to have an audience with you, Urameshi Yusuke," the central demon stated, a frown on his face as the human ignored certain politenesses.

"King Raizen, right?" Yusuke asked, arms crossed over his chest. "I've been learning a lot of interesting stuff about Demon World since I joined the ranks."

Being Potter-sensei's student wasn't just a lip-service title. He _had_ been learning. Demon World history and politics most particularly, since the only other known Mazoku was King Raizen, which meant _he_ was most likely to be the one who had possessed him, which meant Yusuke had a target to direct his fist at. Lots of learning of how things worked in Demon World, and lots of training so he could face the guy who'd just taken him over without so much as a by-your-leave.

"That is correct," the baldy answered. "Your ancestor."

"Nice to have that confirmed," Yusuke grumbled. "We'd only been able to speculate, not being able to call him up and ask."

"And we hear that King Raizen's no-people diet might be startin' to be getting to him soon-like," Jin quipped. "You wouldn't be grabbin' at our boy Urameshi to step up and take his place in the fight between him, Yomi and Mukuro now, would you?"

"Desperately clutching at straws," Yusuke agreed.

"There is some truth in that," the baldy agreed, doing his best to conceal his surprise at how much they knew. "I have my own doubts. I am an S-class demon, but nowhere near the strength of our king or the other two, and you are nowhere near _my_ strength."

Unseen, Harry smirked. Spirit cuffs had an excellent dual purpose. On one hand, you had to constantly use your energy to be able to move, therefore you were constantly working and strengthening your spirit energy. On the other, that constant use was a constant drain, and so always made a person appear to be weaker while they were on.

"Regardless, our king is dying of malnutrition. No one can get him to eat. When that happens, we _will_ fight for him, but in our current conditions we're not strong enough. The King _is_ aware that you have already been to Demon World once."

"I remember," Yusuke growled. "So that covers the why," he said breathing deeply to calm himself and clear his head. "So what do you want me to do about it? Is Jin right? Do you want _me_ to step up to the plate?"

"We want you to come to Demon World and train, so that you will be fit to lead the battle when the time comes," the baldy answered solemnly. "Our king foresaw that you would be a saviour to us in the -"

"I hate a foretelling of a saviour." Harry's words cut across the conversation like Touya's ice blade – sharp and with an aura of frost in the air around them.

"Congratulations, you've actually managed to piss off Potter-sensei," Yusuke said with a smirk. "I should give you a medal, 'cause that's damn hard to do."

Harry narrowed his eyes as he kept working. It had _used_ to be easy. Stupid Gryffindor habits of always losing their tempers and taking it out on someone, and for a while he'd been a really _angst_-riddled mess. Moving to Japan had been good for him. Helped him calm down and level out. So had university and getting that teaching degree. He could still turn into a very dangerous person like a light could be switched on and off, but he kept his cool these days. There were knee-jerk reactions he'd suppressed in the past, but... Like Yusuke said, it was _damn_ hard to actually piss him off any more.

All the fatalists just had to come out of the woodwork close together though. Even if they weren't targeting him specifically.

Harry stood at last, and decided that, really, building the fence the old fashioned way might be a bit overrated. "Erecto," he said, flicking his wand from the building materials to the fence. The spell was most frequently used in the wizarding world for erecting tents, but it worked on other things too. Things like fences, for example. It just took a bit more power.

The fence was finished in seconds.

Then Harry finally turned to look at the three demons who had come for Urameshi.

"What are you thinkin' luv?" Jin asked, gently and loosely wrapping his arms around Harry's waist, very aware of and making sure that he didn't in any way hinder Harry's movements by doing so. Well, except that he wouldn't be walking towards the other demons just yet.

"I'm thinking the entrail-expelling curse," Harry answered.

"It can't smell worse than their breath," Yusuke quipped darkly. "Just 'cause Raizen stopped eating people didn't mean _you_ all did the same, _right_? Maybe you need a minute to answer?" he suggested when their 'guests' all visibly displayed shock.

"Now, we're very _liberal_ in this house," Harry said, leaning back against Jin's chest easily. "All sorts of things happen here that are more than a bit iffy on the morality meter, but strangers don't get the same lee-way as friends do."

"We did not believe that you would listen to us if you knew how we fed," admitted the demon who had so far done pretty much all of the talking.

"Now, granted, I'm wondering what it is about your body-chemistry that means you go for humans rather than beef, pork, or poultry," Yusuke allowed, "but as far as it goes I sympathise. I've sat through vegetarians glaring at me while I ate a burger after all. Got to say though, I _much_ prefer straight-up honesty from people asking for my help. Now piss off the lot of you. _If_ I decide to go to Demon World I'll get there on my own without any help from you."

"We -" the demon started.

"Are going now," Harry finished dangerously, blue-bell flames dancing harmlessly over his fingertips. It was a handy little spell for intimidating people, though it was _really_ hard to learn how to do it without using wand or incantation. Then again, 'really hard' was Harry's bread and butter these days.

"We will return in one week for your answer," the central bald demon said before he and his companions took off.

"You know what, Urameshi?" Harry said as he released the spell and turned to nuzzle softly against Jin's chest. "There are _some_ people who would be _really_ disturbed by how quickly you accepted the idea of people as food. You're _damn_ lucky I'm not one of them."

"Yeah," Yusuke agreed with a nervous laugh, suddenly realising that yes, he _had_ been quick to accept that concept as a fact of reality. "Why is that?" he asked. "Now that I think about it, actually _think_, I'm not so comfortable with the idea myself."

Harry closed his eyes and smiled a little bit, as though he were re-living happy memories. They weren't happy memories though. They were terrible memories. "I've nearly been eaten a couple of times," he admitted. "Back when I was smaller and easier to swallow whole."

"Okay, that's _way_ too calm for the subject matter," Yusuke decided. "The fence is up, can I have that energy-manipulation-so-I-can-maybe-fly lesson now?"

Harry and Jin both laughed. Harry quietly into Jin's chest, Jin loudly, glad that the tension was dispersed at last. He liked a good fight, true enough, but that would _not_ have been a fun one to have in Harry's back garden.

"Sure," the wind master agreed with a smile. "If you think you can get off the ground while you're wearing those spirit cuffs. They're heavy little buggers."

"Try me anyway."


	16. Chapter 16

Shiori had gone out on a date with her boyfriend after dinner, and so Kurama was over at Harry's house. It wasn't that he wasn't old enough to take care of himself, Shiori knew perfectly well that he was. It was just part of the routine of how things went now: if Shiori was on a date and Kurama didn't have other affairs at the same time, he shifted next door for the evening.

The weather was warm and pleasant as the days stretched out towards the coming summer, and Harry had provided them all with bowls of ice cream and plastic chairs to sit on in the garden, special candles dotted around to keep the bugs away and add to the slightly romantic atmosphere at the same time.

An atmosphere that was somewhat ruined by the arrival of three demons. They didn't stay long, thankfully. They were just delivering a message, a 'spirit of words' from Mukuro to Hiei. The intruders had only just left when another trio showed up with a glowing little orb of their own for Kurama. From Yomi.

Kurama had been particularly upset the first time he had heard Jin and Touya say that Yomi was one of the three demons locked in a stalemated power-struggle for control of Demon World. He'd overheard them teaching Yusuke about Demon World politics one day on his way through to Harry's potion's lab. That one of his old gang of thieves wasn't dead – especially when he'd gone to the trouble of actually hiring an assassin to be rid of him – had been an extremely unpleasant surprise for him at the time. Now he simply shattered the spirit of words against the base of the nearest wall and listened to his one-time underling hatefully.

Hiei's message was listened to by all of them next. Not one of them had left the garden since the messengers came. All six of them stayed in their seats and listened. Not one of them smiled. Then Hiei broke their silence when the spirit of words from Mukuro ended.

"What an _talkative_ and self-important _fool_ he is," Hiei declared as he settled back in his seat. He ate a mouthful of his ice cream before he continued: "Was he _always_ like that?" he asked.

"And much worse," Kurama answered, as the oldest demon present, the one with the longest memory, even if not the one with the most recent information. "Mukuro has always been a dangerous, tyrannical ruler. The damage he could do... all of Demon World thrown into chaos."

"And earlier today Urameshi got a visit from Raizen's chaps," Jin added in. "This is going to be right interestin' for ya. Kinda sad I'll be missin' the fun."

"How did Yusuke react to that?" Kurama asked curiously.

"Well,when they left I started him on the basics of usin' his energy to fly, and then he left," Jin answered.

"Went to talk to Keiko-chan," Harry added. "He asked if he could give her one of my magic mirrors so they can talk while he's in Demon World, so he'll be giving her one of the two _I_ gave _him_, and I expect he'll probably talk to Atsuko-chan and Kuwabara about his leaving before long as well."

"So that's it... You're all going to be on different sides of the fight this time," Yukina said quietly, saddened by the prospect. "You'll be fighting against each other for no good reason!"

Touya was out of his chair and with his arms around Yukina's shoulders before anybody else thought of how to react. "No," he answered her. "They're not going to be on different sides. It might look like it, but it's not true."

"I'm hardly going to just blindly give my allegiance to Mukuro," Hiei assured his sister loftily. "I would as soon kill him for being so presumptuous of my obedience to his wishes."

Kurama nodded his agreement. "My allegiance is _here_, not to an arrogant power-monger I gave orders to a long time ago, and ordered a hit on as a parting of ways," he said firmly.

Harry smiled, then suddenly it stretched into a grin as a thought struck him.

"I know that look," Jin observed, a grin beginning to spread across his own face at the sight of it. "I do hope you're going to share the wonderfully devious idea bouncin' around in your skull that's caused it."

"Yusuke's ancestor Raizen is dying, and they're all at a stalemate. I'm wondering what would happen if I gave Urameshi a big bag of nutrition potions to get the guy back up to full strength again," Harry explained. "Of course, that's dependant on Yusuke himself not wanting Raizen's head on a platter..." he added thoughtfully into the stunned silence.

"Fox," Hiei said. "He's as much of an evil genius mastermind as you are."

"But I'm not the one you want to ravish," Harry quipped before Kurama could answer. "And besides, I'm taken," he said with a saucy smirk and a promising glance directed to Jin, who grinned lecherously back.

Hiei's face turned red and his body went rigid. Beside him, Kurama's green eyes went a little wide as he stared at the shorter demon.

"And even if I wasn't, I wouldn't want to make Kurama jealous," Harry added with a smile.

Now it was Kurama's turn to blush and go stiff where he sat, looking away from Hiei who had whipped his head around to stare at the red-head.

Yukina, Touya and Jin laughed at the pair while Harry hummed in satisfaction. Those two had been dancing around their feelings for each other and not saying a word for altogether too long by his estimation. He and Jin had talked about _lots_ of interesting things since deciding to be in a relationship, and one of them was the difference between how humans went about the matter and how demons did. It was most enlightening and made for a lot of interesting (and often _fun_) situations. It also meant that he was quite aware that Kurama and Hiei should have at least discussed their feelings for each other by now. Touya and Yukina had, and they hadn't even known each other as long as Hiei and Kurama.

Harry expected to have one of his bedrooms free again before the year was out, and in fact eagerly anticipated turning it into a nursery for Touya and Yukina's use when they finally moved their budding relationship into the same bedroom. Though – and he wouldn't admit it – he was a little disappointed that demon marriages didn't have a ceremony of any kind. Yukina would have been absolutely beautiful as a bride, and Touya probably would look very fine in a suit as well.

But that was neither here nor there.

"Kurama," Hiei said once the laughter had died down.

"Yes Hiei?"  
"I think we should talk."

Kurama nodded in agreement and the two of them headed inside and up to Hiei's room where they could talk without having to worry about being disturbed.

Yukina clapped in girlish delight once they were both out of sight.

Harry bowed from where he sat, then settled back to finish his ice cream with a content smile on his face.

~oOo~

"How'd it go with your women-folk?" Jin asked when Yusuke walked into Harry's kitchen the next day.

"My ma's cool with it," Yusuke answered, "and Chu was there when I told her, so she actually understands where I'm going. Keiko on the other hand... Well, I gave her the mirror and explained what was going on, but then she started talking about how she was going to an all-girls high school that was right next to an all-boy school, and how she'll have a new boyfriend when I get back. I gave her some time to cool off after that, went and talked to Kuwabara about what was going on, then I headed over to her house."

"And?" Jin and Harry both prompted.

"I asked her to marry me. Promised I'd be back no later than my eighteenth birthday, and I'd marry her when I came back," Yusuke answered. "I don't think she believed me though," he added, more than a little despondently.

"Hey hey!" Jin cheered. "The boy's growin' up!"

Harry smiled. "How about Jin and I take you shopping for a ring? We can talk about the new developments while we walk," he suggested.

"New developments?" Yusuke asked.

Jin nodded. "Kurama and Hiei have been 'invited' to work for King Raizen's rivals," he said solemnly. "Much the same way you all were invited to Dark Tournament, and you're bein' requested to show up in front of King Raizen."

"Right..." Yusuke said, frowning as he thought about that. "That's going to make things interesting, and hey, Potter-sensei? What do you mean shopping for a ring?"

"An engagement ring," Harry answered with a smile. "I'll pay for it if you can't afford the one you pick, no problem. She might take you a bit more seriously if she's got that."

Yusuke smiled. "Thanks Potter-sensei," he said gratefully.

Harry patted the kid on the shoulder. "No problem."

"How're you getting to Demon World Urameshi?" Jin asked as the three of them left the house to go ring shopping. "What with the tunnel bein' closed up and all, and we didn't ask the baldy jobs how they did their comin' and goin' either."

"I'm going to catch up with Koenma in town some time today," Yusuke answered. "I figure that Spirit World might be willing to make me a portal to Demon World if it means the _terrible_ Mazoku isn't in human world any more," he explained.

Harry nodded. "Seems like a good plan," he agreed. "Have you talked to Genkai yet? She'd want to know what her apprentice is getting up to since the big change, wouldn't she?"

Yusuke shrugged. "I'll head out to her place tomorrow, see if I can stay there until the portal to Demon World is ready maybe. Shouldn't be later than tomorrow night. So, what happened with Kurama and Hiei being 'invited' to Demon World too?"

Jin chuckled, chortled, and smothered his laughter with a hand over his mouth.

"What?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh, I just suggested that Yomi and Mukuro might piss their pants if Raizen was force-fed enough nutrition potions and restoratives that he isn't dying from starvation, which would be funny, and then Hiei called me an evil genius," Harry answered.

"Harry _then_ said he wasn't the one Hiei wanted to ravish, and Kurama would be jealous if he was," Jin proclaimed happily. "The two of them went off to sit down together and talk privately about actually having a relationship after that."

"Just talk?" Yusuke asked curiously.

Harry and Jin nodded.

"Romantic etiquette between two male demons is a bit different to a strictly heterosexual relationship," Harry explained. "There's a lot more talking by necessity, and we do all sorts of various trust games and scenes and stuff that normal people call 'kinky' so that I'll be ready for Jin to claim me as his husband around about the end of _next_ year, while Touya and Yukina will be married by the end of _this_ year."

"Why's that?" Yusuke asked curiously.

"Because the male body is not _designed_ to be a receiving party in the sex act," Harry answered simply.

"Think about it a moment Urameshi," Jin added with a smirk. "You know where your equipment will go with your missy when you're married to her. Do you have _any_ idea how it works between two guys?"

Yusuke's face turned red. "N-no," he answered. "I mean, I understand about how jerking off works, and I guess you'd... man! This should _not_ be something that gets talked about while we're walking down the street trying to find me an engagement ring for Keiko!"

Jin and Harry laughed at the poor kid, and Harry took pity.

"There's a reason one of the names people have come up with for male homosexual couples, derogatory as it is, is 'shit-packer'," Harry explained.

Yusuke blinked as he thought about that. "Oh man that's gross," he decided flatly as he realised what that meant exactly.

Harry and Jin both just laughed.

"It's not for everybody," Jin agreed easily.

"And it's also why, one, we don't move onto that part of our relationship as fast, and two, condoms are such an important part of gay sex," Harry added.

"Right," Yusuke said. "Let's just... find me that ring for Keiko. And maybe tell me about those nutrition potions I can forced down Raizen's throat. I'd hate to only be able to kick his butt because he's on the way out."

It didn't take too long to find a ring that Urameshi thought was perfect, and conveniently (to Harry's thinking) there was an entrance to one of the small magical streets right next to the place. A few taps of his wand opened the entrance to allow his two companions inside before it closed up behind them all, and Harry guided them into a shop that sold, among various other things, vanishing boxes and magical communication mirrors. Harry wasn't exactly making the ones he used and handed out from scratch after all, and Kurama and Hiei were going to need some way to communicate with each other while they were separated by Demon World politics and warmongering.

"What're the boxes for?" Yusuke asked as Harry picked up a small pile of them.

"If I've got one, and you've got one, I'll be able to send you potions as you need them, and I do _not_ doubt you _will_ need them. You'll also be able to send me notes saying what you want or need, like a chocolate bar, or a new tub of hair gel to keep your hair slicked back," Harry answered with a smirk, reaching up to mess with Yusuke's hair – Yukina had braided it the day he came back, but he'd asked for it to be cut off before he went home. "Or even more birdseed for Puu. You _are_ taking Puu with you, aren't you?"

Yusuke ducked out from under the hand that was trying to ruin his do. "Hadn't thought of it," he admitted. "But if you think it's a good idea?"

"Definitely," Harry and Jin both answered at the same time.

"Besides, he'd get lonely if you left him behind, and he'd really be able to stretch his wings in Demon World where he doesn't always have to hide from normal people." Harry added.

~oOo~

As Kurama followed behind his one-time subordinate, he realised that simply killing Yomi would not be enough. He'd built up a formidable empire around himself, and it would need to be destroyed along with its ruler, or there would be chaos and war. That meant he was going to need help, and all of those he knew who could help – apart from Hiei and Yusuke of course, who were busily being detained elsewhere – were in Human World. Jin, Touya, Shishiwakamaru, Suzuka, Chu, Rinku and even Yukina would be great allies in toppling Yomi and his precious Gandara.

For that matter, so would Harry and Genkai, if they would agree to help him. Possibly even Kuwabara, if Shizuru would release him from his studies long enough... Maybe if he just joined them when Shizuru went on her dates with that real estate agent Harry had set her up with. What was his name? Sako? Saki? Sakyo? Yes, Sakyo. It sounded... familiar, though he couldn't say for certain from where, and he'd yet to meet the man who was brave enough to ask Kuwabara Shizuru on a date. That woman hit _much_ harder than her little brother did, and she had a mind like a steel trap. Nothing got past her. Better not ask Kuawbara to help out then. Stick to just asking Genkai and Harry. They were more likely to agree.

Of course, Harry was _already_ helping all of them: sending potions to Yusuke, keeping Hiei updated on the progression of Yukina's relationship with Touya, and making sure there were no supernatural threats to Shiori. Her _normal_, _human_, newly-wedded husband (they'd gotten married on the sixteenth of July) wouldn't be any use in that regard after all, and his new step-brother (who was also named Shuichi) would be an even easier target to take as a hostage if any of those in Demon World felt the inclination. Harry was keeping an watchful eye over both of _them_ as well.

Then again, this was a Demon World affair, and normal humans shouldn't be dragged into it, so could he really ask Genkai and Harry for help?

Hah! He'd be asking to borrow Harry's boyfriend along with everyone else, and he'd need somewhere for them to train without lots of normal humans spotting them and getting hurt accidentally. He couldn't _not_ ask them.

A week after his meeting with Yomi, Kurama was back in Living World, training under Harry and Genkai's watch. He wasn't the only one either. There was a full complement of demon guests at Genkai's temple, and they stopped only to sleep and eat as needed – often drinking down one of Harry's potions rather than stopping for a _proper_ meal.

Harry was mostly just making the nutrition potion and the restorative draught, which he could easily (and safely) make in larger batches than the standard, so he didn't have to use his time-turner to make sure there was always enough of them to go around. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't train as well, just not _as much_. He also was a big help in making sure that everybody Kurama had rounded up was well-able to dodge any aerial attacks, raining spells down on them from his broomstick, as he while he _was_ learning to fly with just his own energy, Harry was _much_ faster on his Firebolt.

Six months of training passed in a blur of sweat and nightmares. It was eight since they'd farewelled Yusuke and Hiei. Koenma was forgiven by his father and back behind his desk, stamping papers in Spirit World while keeping an eye on everything that was going on _beyond_ the celestial gates. It was time to go back to Demon World. They'd all trained, but Kurama had only promised Yomi _six_ fighters. Yukina and Harry would _not_ be presented to the blind demon, and Kurama would be very carefully masking his _own_ energy level as well, hiding his true abilities behind his 'frail human shell'.

Barely a week after that meeting, at which Kurama was made Yomi's second in command, displacing the previous SIC (and killing him when he didn't take too kindly to the demotion), the echoes of Raizen's stomach ceased. Less than a full twenty-four hours later, Yusuke was at the border of Gandara, being his usual self. It seemed not even so long a time training in Demon World could change that boy. He was politely shown into Yomi's castle, provided with a cup of tea, and the two sat down to talk.

Kurama was, however, more than a bit put out that Yomi had him and the others he had brought with him waiting silently in the next room in case Yomi gave the order for an assassination. Then again, not _one_ of them – not even Shishiwakamaru – would follow that order. Between Yomi and Yusuke, they would back Yusuke. No question. Shishi would prefer to back neither, but of the two he _would_ back Yusuke.

Hiei was also nearby, which was a bit of a distraction for Kurama. They'd been able to talk regularly on the magic mirrors Harry had provided. Kurama didn't even have to worry about his conversations being overheard by Yomi while he was training in Living World. This would be their first face-to-face meeting in over eight months. Kurama wanted to run out and just hold Hiei for a little while. They had really been missing out on the hand-holding and the snuggling and the kissing – and Hiei had been fending off Mukuro's attentions at the same time as well. Apparently, _she_ was very persistent.

She was even standing at Hiei's side that very moment as they spied on the meeting between Yusuke and Yomi from a slight distance.

Presently though, it was Yusuke that they were all more concerned with. Chu and Jin particularly were very pleased to see him, and impressed with how strong he'd gotten since they'd last seen him.

"So, why have you come to see me? And please, be direct. I have neither time, nor patience, to waste time beating around the bush," Yomi said once Yusuke had drunk his tea.

"Well, as the new big player in town, I thought it would be polite to pay you a visit and explain just how I intend to rip you off your throne," Yusuke said with a smirk. "Is that _direct_ enough?"

"Indeed," Yomi answered with a frown. "Well, in the interest of full discloser, allow _me_ to show you how I plan to stop you," he countered, and began to gather his energy for an attack.

"Yeah, hold off on that for a second, because I've got something for you," Yusuke said, setting a bag on the low table between them, its top tied shut. "We'll call it a gift."

"How thoughtful of you," Yomi answered, his tone and smile equally fake. "Would you mind unwrapping it for me too? I'm afraid I can't see as well as I used to."

"Sure," Yusuke agreed as he untied the knot. "Like that's stopped you up until now, but alright. Just to prove it's not a trap, because if you weren't thinking that, then you'd be a lot dumber than you look."

With the knot released and without Yusuke holding up the sides of the bag any more, a pile of perfectly round gems were revealed.

"But that's our entire national treasure!" objected the bald demon who had accompanied Yusuke from Raizen's territory. "All our ruromari stones! Do you have any idea how rare and valuable those are?" he demanded quietly of his leader.

"I thank you, Mr Urameshi, for this most thoughtful and generous gift," Yomi said, reaching out to take one of the stones from the bag. "I can tell this stone is genuine from the feel of it. But what is your true purpose with this?" he asked, then frowned as he felt something different. "Something has been carved on this stone," he commented, and ran his fingertips over the surface again. "It says Mukuro." Yomi reached into the bag and picked up a few more, feeling their surfaces and reading them. "Kurama, Shishiwakamaru, Seitei, Hiei... did you engrave names on all of these stones?"

"Well, I thought of painting them on, but I figured that _this_ way _you_ could read them as well," Yusuke answered easily, a smile on his face.

The demon he had brought with him, however, was _not_ smiling. "You desecrated the treasure!" he wailed. "How could you do such a thing?" he cried as he fell back, eyes wide and perhaps a bit shell-shocked by the day's events.

"Look, I'm not a _particularly_ bright guy, and just because I'm Raizen's 'heir' _doesn't_ mean I'm qualified to replace him. So, maybe it's time we found a new way to crown the big cheese around here. Each of these has the name of someone from Demon World on them. We'll all face off in a big tournament, representing not _kingdoms_, but _ourselves_."

Yomi's jaw fell open, just a little, in shock at where he could see this proposal leading.

"The winner will get full control of Demon World. For a period of time at least, until the _next_ tournament where we do it over again," Yusuke continued with a smile. "From what I understood in social studies, it's called democracy, and it's all the rage back home. Except we'll cast _our_ votes with our _fists_."

Kurama made a mental note to ask Harry to explain _democracy_ to Yusuke, because what he was proposing was _not_ it.

"What do you say, big guy?" Yusuke asked, smirking.

"Do you honestly believe that I, or anyone else, will go along with this?" Yomi countered, utterly incredulous.

"Sign me up, so I say!" Jin declared, shoving the screen open that had hid them right next to the meeting.

Yusuke jumped up, a laugh on his lips as Kurama quietly slid the other shoji screen open and the rest of them stood there, smiling at their friend.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yusuke asked with a grin. Clearly, very pleased to see them all.

"To see you, pal!" Jin answered with a grin.

"Jin! How you doin' man?" Yusuke asked, fake-punching the wind-user in the gut in a friendly manner as they both laughed.

"Hey!"

"Chu!" Yusuke cried, happily, turning to look up at the large demon who'd dropped his hand onto Yusuke's head. "Are you sober?" he asked jokingly before clonking his head against Chu's, at which point he was practically picked up by the two taller demons and had an arm across both their shoulders as they all laughed like three men who'd had a great evening out at the pub.

"I'm sorry Yomi," Kurama said, not apologetic at all. "But from now on I represent only Kurama's side. If you do not go along with this, I can assure you that none of us will hesitate in taking Yusuke's side over yours." It was slightly satisfying to see the sweat beginning to form on Yomi's face at that.

Then he must have heard something that the rest of them had not, because he growled out a "Fine" as he stood up. "I accept," he pronounced with a frustrated sigh.

"Glad to hear it," Yusuke said. "_Raizen_ has too."

"What?!" Yomi wasn't the only one to make that exclamation.

Yusuke smirked. "That's why it took me so long to get here. I had to convince the old man before I could approach you and Mokuro with the idea – and take it from me, he's a hard guy to convince to do anything. Took me eight months to get him to agree to try a hamburger," he explained.

Kurama, Jin and the others all broke down laughing.

Yomi, however, was _far_ from amused. Still, he'd agreed, and he could hear Mokuro laughing along as well – clearly with every intention of _still_ going along with this. He grit his teeth and thought for a moment. It still likely wouldn't be hard to win this tournament that Urameshi was proposing. In fact, it might be the best thing that could have happened. He was distracted, however, by a sudden energy surge coming from Raizen's territory.

Everybody ran from the room to where they could get a better view of the source of that power surge – Mokuro and Hiei joining them without a word. Yusuke was the one looking most eager though.

"Yuda!" Yomi called, finding his little old advisor. "What the hell is going on?"

"An energy surge from Raizen's region," the beaded little thing answered. "The energy level is off the charts!"

"That's impossible! Such displays!" Yomi objected.

"The old man must have gotten in touch with his old friends and sparring buddies faster than I thought he could," Yusuke commented with a smile. "It's going to be an interesting tournament, with all of them coming out of their quiet, peaceful lives for a good rumble. Most of them have wanted to beat Raizen for centuries." With a smirk and a sidelong glance at Yomi, "they've got a better chance of beating him than you do as well."

"Yuda, I will no longer be needing your services," Yomi said quietly. "From now on, you and I are considered equals." He then turned to fix his sightless gaze on Urameshi, though he didn't say anything, just considered the young man for a while before turning on his heel and leaving, giving only a polite nod to Mukuro on his way out.

"Quite impressive, Urameshi Yusuke," Mukuro complimented before she too left.


	17. Chapter 17

Harry sat back and watched as the Demon World Tournament preliminaries flashed up on the screen of his television. He was the only person in his house right now. Atsuko, Keiko, Shiori, Genkai and both of the Kuwabara siblings would be coming by later – Shizuru might even bring Sakyo with her – though that would only be once the preliminary fights were all over and the two teens were out of class. Of course, Harry was recording the whole broadcast as well. It had been very thoughtful of Koenma to help him rig his television so that it would receive the Demon World television broadcast signal. Not that Koenma or Botan would be swinging by to watch with them. Those two – as well as George the ogre – would be going to Demon World to watch everything in person, possibly even catch Yusuke for a moment to talk.

Harry had been kept in the loop, thanks to his magic mirrors, so he was able to recognise all of Raizen's old sparring buddies as they made clean wins in their preliminary matches. Raizen and Mukuro both got through without anyone else showing up to fight them – too intimidated – and Yomi got through _his_ preliminary after fighting his son, who was the _only_ one in his preliminary group who _wasn't_ too intimidated to show up. One of the bald guys who had previously served Raizen got through, as did two members of Mukuro's old 'elite guard' – her old second in command and the surgeon who had given Hiei his Jagan eye. Hiei himself was also through, as was his sister Yukina – which surprised a lot of the demons who were present at the stadium watching the big screen, to say nothing of all her opponents. Kurama, Touya, Jin, Chu, Rinku, Suzuka and Shishi were all winners as well. And of course, Yusuke won _his_ preliminary with _no_ trouble, even if no one had dropped out like they had when faced with the prospect of Yomi, Mukuro or Raizen.

Of course, that was only twenty-five known to him out of one-hundred-and-twenty-eight fighters who successfully won their preliminary battles. Just a few shy of one fifth of all the demons there.

Yusuke gave a good speech though. Harry was sure Keiko would be proud of him when she got to see the recording of that.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry, and he grabbed his magic mirror to call all the people in Demon World – a conference call where he reminded all of them about their spirit cuffs. It was his turn to laugh, since they'd all forgotten about them since he'd put them on almost a year ago. He was particularly amused that Jin had forgotten, since the wind master took such joy in teasing _him_ for forgetting he was wearing spirit cuffs.

None of them removed their spirit cuffs immediately, not even Yukina. They all preferred to keep the handicap in place unless they found themselves in a tight spot. Of course... not _all_ of their friends _had_ spirit cuffs. Shishiwakamaru, Suzuka, and Rinku all lost their fights, none of them having that ace to pull out when they got in a tight spot. Chu got through to the second round, but it was a close thing, and he _was_ exhausted afterwards. He didn't have spirit cuffs to take off for a boost either.

The various humans of the cheering squad arrived at Harry's door then, and he suggested Keiko call Urameshi while there was a break between rounds one and two – as well as let Kuwabara yell at his best friend over her shoulder for a little while. A little bit of friendly insulting always seemed to do the kid good after all. He also lent his own mirror to Shiori so that she could talk to Kurama for a little while, which she did quietly, telling him how proud she was of him, and telling him to take care of himself and _not_ hold _anything_ back if it was his life on the line. She wanted him to come back home again after all. She wasn't the only one saying that of course.

"Don't you worry about me," Yusuke assured them through the mirror. "I'll be just fine. You cheer for me though, okay?"

"Kick their asses, Yusuke!" Atsuko ordered from beyond the two teens.

"Even if it's your boyfriend?" Yusuke countered.

"I started dating him after seeing him lose to my son _once_, didn't I?" she countered, which got a laugh from her son.

"Now Yusuke," Keiko said more seriously. "Do you remember what I told you, back during the Dark Tournament?"

"If I die, you'll kill me? That one?" Yusuke asked with a smile.

Keiko smiled back. "That's the one," she answered. "That _still_ applies," she added warningly.

"Gotcha," Yusuke said, a soft, content look in his eyes before he was distracted by something going on behind him. "Sorry about this, but I gotta go. The second round is about to start."

Keiko nodded her understanding. "Alright," she agreed.

"See ya on the TV, Urameshi!" Kuwabara added, waving, a stupid grin on his face.

Yusuke laughed, and the connection between the two mirrors was cut off.

Everyone in Harry's lounge room turned their attention back to the television.

In the second round, Jin and Touya both ditched the cuffs in their fights against a couple of Raizen's old sparring partners. The results of this action _really_ impressed Souketsu and Kujou, their respective opponents. They still didn't win, but they gave it a really good go, and despite their losses they survived. Even got helped off the battle arenas when they couldn't walk themselves from exhaustion – the older, more powerful demons smiling fondly at their younger challengers as they helped them back to the central stadium. Kurama didn't _remove_ his set of spirit cuffs in his battle with Shigure the demonic surgeon – who had given Hiei his Jagan eye all those years ago – but he _did_ trade in his human body for his original form: the beautiful silver Yoko.

Shigure didn't take too well to being defeated though, throwing himself to his death, like a samurai who committed seppuku after losing a battle.

Hiei was waiting for him at the base of the okaninju stalk that the battle had taken place on, and though no one else saw it, he kissed his fox as a reward for not getting so much as a scratch on him throughout the battle.

"And one for luck," Kurama said, pressing a kiss of his own to Hiei's lips as he transformed back from the spirit fox into his human form. "You're fighting Mukuro next after all."

"Hn," Hiei agreed. "As much as Urameshi wants to see fighters back a second time for another Tournament, I do _not_ want to let Mukuro live," he informed the red-head. "I will delight in shattering her _delusions_ of forming a relationship with _me_. You are the only one for me, Kurama."

Kurama smiled and kissed Hiei again, just a quick little peck on the lips. "Well, you don't _have_ to kill her to do that, which would make Yusuke happy. And after the Tournament is over, perhaps we could go back to Living World and catch up on all the time we've missed?" he suggested, voice thick with want.

Hiei smirked. "Definitely," he agreed lowly. "Be sure to watch," he instructed.

Kurama smiled, nodded, and the two parted. Hiei to the chosen battlefield for his fight with Mukuro, Kurama to the party of friends that were pleased to celebrate that he had won his fight. The first of them to do so in the second round – Raizen's friends were a _different_ group after all, even if they were very similar.

Hiei knew better than to be so arrogant and assured of his own strength as to keep on his spirit cuffs for this fight, and removed them on his way up to the battlefield – where he waited a full ten minutes for Mukuro to show up for their fight.

"There's something different about you," Mukuro commented as she stood before them. "I just can't think what."

Hiei didn't answer. He just launched his attack and marvelled to himself for a moment how much faster and stronger he was now that he'd taken off the spirit cuffs that he had been wearing since just after the Sensui case. Everything Mukuro said – or tried to say – during their fight, Hiei ignored. It wasn't like she had anything to say that was worth listening to. At least, as far as he was concerned anyway. Part of him registered amusement, just for a moment, as he recalled that Kuwabara would gladly rip into him for attacking a woman, even if she was the enemy – and an extremely competent and brutal fighter herself on top of that. In that same moment, Hiei sliced off both of Mukuro's arms. She'd recover eventually. Though it wasn't like her right arm was exactly hers in the first place anyway, and she'd brought Shigure back after Hiei had won their fight to the death at her order before. Saving herself from _this_ would be _much_ easier. All the same, he walked away dispassionately, more interested in getting back to Kurama's side than being at all concerned about her.

"You really _do_ only look out for yourself," Mukuro commented as he walked away. "I didn't believe you, when you said you'd kill me as dispassionately as you would kill Raizen's heir. It seems I was wrong."

Hiei paused. "No," he answered, looking over his shoulder at her but not turning around. "In fact, it _was_ a lie. I have never backed down from a fight with Yusuke, but I _respect_ him more than I ever have, or _will_, respect you."

Mukuro laughed sadly as the shackle on her wrist – which lay several feet away from her body – finally broke, and Hiei continued to walk away from her, flicking the blood off his blade before slipping it back into its sheath.

Yusuke's second-round fight was against Yomi, and the _first_ thing he did was take off his spirit cuffs and flex his energy, as brightly and as powerfully as he could, trying to push Yomi off the edge of the platform that was put on every battlefield as a starting point. Yomi responded the same way.

On other battlefields, the fighters felt them and just got the _urge_ to let loose as well.

Yukina removed her spirit cuffs and turned to fight Natsume – the twin sister of Kujou, who had fought with and defeated Touya just a little while ago – both of them with their energy glowing powerfully, and the whole battleground suddenly covered in ice and snow from Yukina's aura. Natsume glowed a brilliant pink in answer.

Raizen laughed in the middle of his fight against Denhou, and didn't even think twice about throwing his energy about the way his boy had. Denhou, of course, answered with a grin. Nothing satisfied him or Raizen's other old friends more than to fight him when he was giving his all.

"Ya know," Harry said as he considered the fights being displayed on his TV set. "I can't help but think all the really _interesting_ fights are happening kind of early. One of the demon 'lords' is already out, and here's our boy proving that he's got what it takes to remove another one, and this is only the second round of fights."

Shizuru and Atsuko laughed at least.

Chu lost his fight in the third round to Koku, who drank even more than he did. He'd skull-bashed his second-round opponent into submission. Yukina, having impressed all of Raizen's friends by actually beating Natsume in their fight, went on to lose against her brother, just as Touya had before her. Still, fighters were going all-out from beginning to end from that point on. It was like a whole new tournament from the moment Yusuke flared his energy up and got everyone keen for the best fight they could give every single time. Ultimately, the final fight of the Tournament was between Raizen and one of his old sparring buddies – Enki as it happened – and in a shocker for everybody, Enki won. That might have been because Raizen had just come from two _very_ tough fights against a vindictive Koku and then his give-it-all-you-got-or-don't-bother-at-all 'son' Yusuke.

(Chu didn't mind his girlfriend's boy calling Raizen 'dad'. He knew he wasn't really the father-figure sort.)

Enki held with the idea of the Tournament happening again in three years, and he also held everybody else to the fact that, as per the Tournament's standards, he was now in charge of _all_ of them until the next one. He had only one rule though: no more mischief in Living World. When he got off the stage, Jin tracked him down and whispered a request for a definition of 'mischief', as his boyfriend was human and in Living World.

Enki laughed, and said that _wasn't_ the sort of mischief he meant, which got a grin from Jin.

From that point, everybody dispersed. Went home, wherever 'home' was for them. For Jin, that was with Harry. For Kurama, it was with his mother, for now. For Hiei, it was wherever Kurama was. Yukina was torn for a while, wanting to be with her brother and Touya both, and wasn't sure where Touya would want to be. The ice master shinobi had laughed at her worry, pointed out that he needed to babysit Jin just as much as she wanted to keep an eye on her brother, and whispered something in her ear about talking to Harry about converting a bedroom into a nursery for a child – which had Yukina smiling _very_ brightly. Chu was going back to Atsuko, but Rinku would be staying in Demon World with Shishi and Suzuka.

As for Yusuke, he was going on a bit of a 'self-discovery' journey with Raizen (and Puu), magic mirror in his pocket so that he could keep in touch with Keiko of course, until his old man headed back to give it another go. Yusuke planned to be taking care of important business in Living World when the next Tournament came around though.

Hiei moved out of Harry's house and into Kurama's – Shiori having moved in with her second husband while Hiei had been gone, and decided to just straight out give Kurama the house. He needed space to himself after all, though she did visit often. Hiei's old room was turned into a nursery for Touya and Yukina's use. Being of a race that reproduced only every one-hundred years, and Yukina herself being only ninety-seven, that would be a little way away yet, but it was good to be ready.

Kuwabara attended a good high school, and was doing well. He was even popular, especially with the female population of his school. Having predicted an earthquake with his psychic powers back in his freshman year might have helped, but no one was going to really call him on it. Shizuru and Sakyo got married, much to Harry's secret amusement. He was even the best man for Sakyo, who was suffering from cheek strain by the end of the day from being completely unable to wipe the huge, happy grin off his face. When Shizuru found out she was pregnant a month after the wedding, they both quit smoking together.

Harry and Jin, after much discussion between themselves and with Genkai, have moved out, leaving the house to the happy couple while they went to live with Genkai. It was several hours drive to the nearest town from her property, so they could both go flying without any fear of being spotted. She kept both of them on their toes as well, training every day. Nothing _too_ extreme, but they were wearing spirit cuffs full time again as well. She sat them down one day and informed them that she would be leaving her (very extensive) property to them, to be held as a place for apparitions to be safe in Living World, a sort of olive-branch, a place where they could learn how to better fit in among the humans if they wanted to make the move to Living World.

Koenma finally overthrew his father as well. Found out some unpleasant secrets his old man had been hiding from him and blew his righteous little top. Everybody helped when he asked, and it wasn't even that hard (with power like Raizen on side, the incredible versatility of Harry Potter on the other, and with all the rest of gang in between... yeah). Big bearded bastard never stood a chance. His fanatical followers didn't either – and it should be noted that his SDF soldiers _weren't_ among his fanatical followers. Oh no. _They_ were on _Koenma's_ side.

After that, the only 'big deals' were one death (Genkai finally found her eternal peace), a couple of pregnancies, and the Demon World Tournament coming around every three years. And the big beautiful wedding of Urameshi Yusuke to Yukimura Keiko of course, which meant there was another pair for children to hail from.

~The End~


End file.
